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MEMOIR 



OF 



The Hon. WILLIAM STURGIS. 



PRKPARED AGREEABLY TO A RESOLUTION 



MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICx\L SOCIETY. 



MEMOIR 



HON. WILLIAM STURGIS. 



PREPARED AGREEABLY TO A RESOLUTION 



"^lASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



By CHARLES G. LORING. 



BOSTON: 

PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. 
1864. 



MEMOIR. 



The formation of character being the chief purpose of 
human life, considered in reference alike to this world and to 
the world of whioh this is the threshold, the death of any 
member of our community, who has exhibited a character of 
commanding influence, or of peculiar strength or beauty, natu- 
rally excites the desire to learn by what means the end of 
living was thus far accomplished. 

Nor is the inquiry of less usefulness than interest. Recur- 
rence to the road which has led to moral or intellectual pre- 
eminence or to conspicuous achievement is needed, not only 
to indicate the means for attaining to the noblest object of 
human effort, but to correct an often erroneous estimate 
of circumstances, generally accounted advantages, which, 
however, are not infrequently hinderances to the best pro- 
gress in life ; and to better understand others, which we are 
prone to regard as hardships or privations, but which are, in 
reality, needful helps in scaling the heights of a worthy 
ambition. And especially is such recurrence to early influ- 
ences important in a community like that in which our lot 
is cast, where the casual relations of birth have no power 
to raise the possessor to any permanent or widely extended 
usefulness or power, independently of his individual worth, 
whatever may have been his lineage or fancied advantages 
of inherited position. 

1 



2 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

It is an instructive fact, that the men, who of late years 
have been chiefly distinguished among us for elevation of 
character in public and private life, — who acquired the largest 
fortunes for themselves, and assisted others in acquiring 
them, — and who exerted the greatest influence upon the com- 
mercial and manufacturing interests of this portion of our 
country, — were men of no early advantages, excepting the 
absence of the circumstances usually accounted as such ; 
with no means of providing their daily bread but their 
own industry ; no better education than our public schools 
afforded ; and no patrons but such as faithful service in hum- 
ble stations had acquired for them. Samuel Appleton, Nathan 
Appleton, Amos Lawrence, Abbott Lawrence, William Apple- 
ton, and William Sturgis, are names familiar among us as 
household words, in their suggestion of ability, wealth, in- 
fluence, and intellectual and moral pre-eminence. And to the 
same list may be added the names of Francis C. Lowell and 
Patrick T. Jackson, who, under some few circumstances 
usually esteemed more advantageous, rose, independently of 
them, to be the architects of their own fortunes, and the 
founders of the vast manufacturing interests of the Eastern 
States. 

The memoirs of such men are also interesting and useful, 
as exhibiting representative types of the fruit of New- 
England descent and training. The energy, selfdevotion, 
personal independence, moral purity, and earnestness of the 
Pilgrim Fathers have come down in undiminished force, 
though in modified forms, to their descendants. Their in- 
tensity of character and of purpose has been as visible in the 
peaceful enterprises of commerce and manufactures, which 
have made the United States the second commercial nation 
in the world, as it was when manifested of old in clearing the 
forest, subduing the savage, and establishing the foundations 
of republican government in the wilderness. Nor has it been 
loss coii^^pifuous in the generous use made of the fruits of 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 6 

toil, as the liberal foundations of unprecedentedlj numerous 
and wise institutions for promoting religious, moral, and 
intellectual culture, and for the relief of human suffering, 
abundantly testify. And now, in this dark hour of our 
country's agony, the same intensity of character has burst 
forth with yet increasing lustre in the voluntary sacrifices 
of life and property, so generally and nobly made for the 
suppression of treason, the maintenance of the nation's life, 
and the glory of its flag. When the history of the present 
Rebellion shall be written, the voluntary contributions of 
blood and treasure everywhere laid by the people of the Free 
States upon the altar of their country, in a resolute defence 
of the great principles of freedom and of law, and in a self- 
relying determination to sustain the Government and the 
honor of the national standard at all hazards and at any price, 
will constitute an era in the annals of patriotism more glori- 
ous to the United States, and of better augury for their future 
safety and power, than any warlike achievements, however 
illustrious. 

Perhaps no one, known by the present generation, has 
presented a more striking example of the peculiar traits 
of character of the Pilgrim Fathers, as modified by the 
advanced civilization of the age, than the subject of this 
Memoir ; who, entering life upon a little farm on the sands of 
Cape Cod, began his career of self-reliance when sixteen 
years old, as a sailor-boy before the mast, on wages of seven 
dollars a month, and has recently closed his days on earth at 
the ripe age of eighty-one years, — possessed of a most 
ample estate, standing with his family in the foremost rank of 
American society, and distinguished for a highly cultivated in- 
tellect, and for remarkably extensive knowledge, that embraced 
not only the commerce of the globe, but a wide field of his- 
torical and literary information. Nor was he less conspicuous 
for firm and liberal principles, for a clear perception of jus- 
tice, for a high sense of honor, for generous sentiments 



4 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

and tender affections ; and he died surrounded by numerous 
and ardent friends of all ages, — from gray-haired contempo- 
raries, to the charmed boy with whom he conversed as a com- 
panion upon the philosophy of life or the events of the times, 
and the little children who loved to gather around him to 
listen to his tale of marvels and adventures among the Indians 
of the North-west Coast. 

William Sturgis was born on the twenty-fifth day of 
February, 1782, in the town of Barnstable, on Cape Cod, in 
Massachusetts, near to Plymouth, the landing-place of the Pil- 
grims of the " Mayflower." His father, of the same name, 
was a highly respectable shipmaster of Barnstable, who for 
many years sailed in command of various vessels from Boston. 
He was a lineal descendant of Edward Sturgis, the first of 
the name in this country, who came over from England in 
1630, and, having first settled at Charlestown, afterwards 
removed to Yarmouth, where, in 1638, he is recorded as one 
of the " first planters " of that town. 

His mother was Hannah Mills, the youngest daughter of 
the Rev. Jonathan Mills, a graduate of Harvard University, 
who was settled in the ministry at Harwich, where he died. 

His earliest introduction into life was to a sphere of useful- 
ness and responsibility. His father's nautical pursuits kept 
him from home for the greater portion of his time, leaving 
to his wife the care of the young family (in which William 
was the eldest child and the only son), and of the few acres of 
land that constituted what was then called a Cape-Cod farm. 
She was a capable and energetic woman, with a large share 
of sound common sense; but she found it indispensable to avail 
herself of the aid of her son, as sOon as he was old enough 
to afford any, in the management of their domestic affairs. 
She was, however, too judicious to suffer her requirements to 
interfere with his regular attendance at school, whenever one, 
public or private, was within reach. The schools of that day 
were none of them of a high order, compared with those of the 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 5 

present time; but such as he attended were probably as good 
as the average then to be found in country towns at a dis- 
tance from the metropolis. At the age of thirteen, his mother, 
being solicitous to procure for him the best education her 
means would afford, sent him to a private school in Hingham, 
kept by Mr. James Warren, son of General Warren of Ply- 
mouth, a prominent patriot of Revolutionary times. Hei'e he 
passed a year ; ^and in a memd"randum made by him, from 
which this brief account of his life is chiefly taken, he bears 
grateful testimony to his teacher's fidelity, by saying, " If I 
did not make sufficient progress, it was not the fault of the 
instructor, who was attentive and efficient." His subsequent 
love of learning, and the ability in composition to which he 
attained amidst occupations' generally regarded as unfavorable 
to the cultivation of letters, bear equally satisfactory testimony 
to the fidelity with which the pupil improved his brief oppor- 
tunity for gaining the rudiments of an education. In the year 
1796 he came to Boston, and entered the counting-house of 
his kinsman, the late Mr. Russell Sturgis, at that time largely 
engaged in the purchase and exportation of what were de- 
nominated " shipping furs." • 

And here, too, his aptitude, and his faithful improvement 
of his time an^ of the means of acquiring knowledge in the 
service of his employer, prepared him in a peculiar manner 
for taking advantage of the seemingly marvellous contingen- 
cies, so soon unexpectedly to present themselves, and to 
be made the stepping-stones of his rapid career to the ulti- 
mate objects of his ambition. After remaining in this service 
about eighteen months, he entered" the counting-room of 
Messrs. James and Thomas H. Perkins, merchants of great 
eminence and extensive commercial relations, and at that 
time much engaged in trade with the North-west Coast and 
China. He remained there until the death of his father, 
which took place abroad in the year 1797, after his vessel 
had been captured and plundered by piratical privateers in 



6 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

the West Indies. His family were left in straitened circum- 
stances ; and William, being now thrown wholly upon his own 
resources, and compelled to adopt some occupation that might 
not only secure his present support, but give promise of 
future success in life, did that " which w^as most natural for 
a young Cape-Cod boy to do" under such circumstances, — 
he decided " to follow the sea." 

Having been taught the rudiments of navigation at school, 
he set earnestly to work, devoting all the time that could be 
'spared from his duties in the counting-room to the acqui- 
sition of such further knowledge of the theory and practice 
of the art as would qualify him for office on board of a ship, 
and thus prepare the way for early promotion to the com- 
mand of one. 

After a few months of diligent study under the instruction 
of Mr. Osgood Carlton, a well-known and highly respected 
teacher of mathematics and navigation in those days, he was 
pronounced competent to navigate a ship to any part of the 
world. And events most unlocked for speedily followed, 
that manifested the fidelity with which he had studied, and 
the justice of the eulogium of his instructor. 

In the summer of the year 1798, his employers, the Messrs. 
Perkins, were fitting out a small vessel, the " Eliza," of one 
hundred and thirty -six tons (below the average in size of 
those now employed in the coasting trade), for a voyage to 
the North-west Coast, San Bias on the western coast of Mex- 
ico, and China, under the command of Captain James Rowan. 
This officer was a good practical seaman, without education 
or much theoretical knowledge of navigation ; but, having 
been several times on the North-west Coast, he was well qual- 
ified to carry on a trade with the Indians, which was con- 
ducted wholly by barter. The large number of the crew for 
a vessel so small, amounting to one hundred and thirty-six men, 
but necessary for defence against the Indians, rendered the 
passage one of great discomfort to those before the mast, and ex- 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 7 

posed the '' green liand " to a somewhat severe experience of 
the hardships of a sailor's life. They sailed from Boston early 
in August; and, after touching at the Falkland and the Sand- 
wich Islands, they reached the North-west Coast in the latter 
part of the month of December. Captain Rowan soon perceived 
the peculiar qualifications and efficiency of young Sturgis, 
and selected him as his assistant in the management of the 
trade. This was an opportunity which the youthful aspirant 
well knew how to appreciate and improve. He not only de- 
voted himself assiduously to the mastery of the business in 
all its details, but also to a laborjous study of the Indian 
languages, and to the cultivation of friendly relations with' 
the natives by kind words and courteous manners, as well as 
by the most scrupulous truthfulness and honor in his deal- 
ings with them. By such means he soon succeeded in 
securing a degree of affection, respect, and influence among 
them, to which no other white man had ever attained, and 
of nobler worth than even the kindred elevation which he 
afterwards enjoyed in the best informed and most polished 
society of his native State. Indeed, his name has ever 
since been cherished by these untutored savages with sin- 
gular affection and reverence, in bright contrast with their 
recollections of the vices and barbarities of others, whose 
j superiority in civilization, if such it can be called, served 
only as the means of brutal excesses, frauds, and cruelties, of 
which the former experience of the poor Indian afforded 
no parallel. Among the latest tidings from that decaying 
race came affectionate inquiries from an aged chief concerning 
his old friend, " the good Mr. Sturgis," — the dying echo of 
the influences of a noble character upon the children of the 
forest, still reverberating, after more than sixty years, from 
the shore of the Pacific Ocean to his grave on the shore of 
the Atlantic. 

After visiting numerous tribes, and disposing of the portion 
of the cargo destined foT that coast in exchange for i^ea-otter 



8 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

skins and other furs, they anchored in the port of Caiganee, 
in latitude 55° north, much frequented by trading vessels. 
Here, they found two Boston ships, — the "Despatch," com- 
manded by Captain Breck ; and the " Ulysses," .by Captain 
Lamb. The crew of the latter ship were in a state of mutiny. 
They and the officers, having revolted a few days before, had 
seized the captain, put him in irons, and confined him to a 
state-room, with an armed sentry at the door. This was alleged 
to have been done in consequence of the cruel treatment by 
Lamb of those under his command. Captains Rowan and 
Breck interfered, obtained his release, and took him on 
board of the " Eliza." After negotiations with the mutineers, 
occupying several days, and a promise by Lamb to pardon all 
that had been done, and to treat them better in future, the 
crew, with the exception of the officers and two seamen, 
consented that he should resume the command of his ship. 
This was done ; the second and third mates, with the two un- 
willing seamen, being taken on board the other vessels, and 
the chief mate being confined in irons on board of the " Ulys- 
ses." This arrangement left that ship with no officer except- 
ing the boatswain, who was illiterate, and without a knowl- 
edge of navigation. Captain Lamb made very liberal proposals 
to induce some officer from the " Eliza " or the " Despatch " 
to take the situation of chief mate on board of his ship, but 
unsuccessfully ; for, so bad was his reputation for ill treating 
his officers as well as his men, that no one was willing to go 
with him. It was indispensable,, however, that there should 
be some officer on board capable of navigating the ship, and 
of managing the trade with the Indians, to take the place of 
Captain Lamb, in the event of his death, or of his inability 
to continue in command. 

Young Sturgis being competent for both of those duties, 
althotigh deficient in practical seamanship, Captain Lamb 
proposed, that he should take the place of chief iftate of the 
" Ulysses," with liberal wages ; and should also act as his 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 9 

assistant in trading with the Indians, and for his services 
should receive a small commission upon all furs collected on 
the Coast. Such an offer to a lad of seventeen, then a boy in 
the forecastle, doing duty as a common sailor, but eager for 
advancement in the profession he had chosen, was too tempt- 
ing, in regard both to station and emolument, to be rejected ; 
and, on the thirteenth day of May, he left the " Eliza," and 
joined the '' Ulysses," though not without serious misgivings. 
They remained on the Coast, collecting furs, until November ; 
when they sailed for China, and arrived at Canton near the 
close of the year. There they found the '^ Eliza," which, after 
visiting several ports on the western coast of Mexico, reached 
Canton in October, and was then nearly ready to sail for 
liome. Young Sturgis had found his situation on board of 
tlie " Ulysses " less uncomfortable than he had apprehended, 
but nevertheless far from being a pleasant one ; and he eagerly 
accepted a proposal from Captain Rowan to rejoin the ''Eliza," 
and take the position of third mate on her homeward passage. 
As Captain Lamb could easily procure experienced officers at 
Canton, he consented to this arrangement; and, professing 
entire satisfaction with the manner in which Mr. Sturgis had 
performed his duties, promptly paid him his wages and com- 
missions. The "Ehza" soon afterwards sailed, and arrived 
in Boston in the spring of the year 1800. 

The reputation of Mr. Sturgis was now so far established, 
that he was immediately engaged to serve as first mate and 
assistant-trader on board of the ship " Caroline," owned by 
Messrs. James and Thomas Lamb and others, and then fitting 
out for a three-years' voyage to the Pacific Ocean and China, 
under the command of Captain Charles Derby of Salem, — a 
worthy man, but not particularly qualified for the enterprise, 
as he was in feeble health, had not before visited the Coast, 
and knew nothing of the Indian trade. He appeared to be 
in a consumption when they sailed; and his health failed so 
rapidly, that, before the end of the first year, he virtually 

2 



10 MEMOIR OF ^WLLIAM STURGIS. 

gave up the command to Mr. Sturgis ; and, in the course of 
the second year, he formally resigned it to him, went on 
shore at the Sandwich Islands, and there died shortly 
afterwards. 

Thus this young man, at the early age of nineteen, and 
with less than four years' experience at sea, became master 
of a large ship in a far distant country; the sole conductor of 
an enterprise requiring the highest qualifications of seaman- 
ship, together with the greatest energy and discretion in the 
management of a large crew, employed in peculiar and 
miscellaneous services on shore as well as on board; and 
requiring also unceasing vigilance and courage to prevent 
surprises and attacks by the savage inhabitants, and great 
judgment and skill in conducting a barter trade, now com- 
mitted wholly .to his care and responsibility. He proved 
himself worthy of the trust. He completed the voyage with 
entire success. He had obtained a valuable collection of furs 
on the Coast, which he exchanged at Canton for an assorted 
China cargo, and with this returned to Boston in the spring of 
the year 1803, to the great satisfaction and profit of his em- 
ployers ; and thus entitled himself to stand in the foremost 
rank in the most difficult and responsible department of his 
chosen profession. ^ 

It is difficult to imagine a state of more intense satisfac- 
tion and of more laudable pride, than that with which this 
youth, just entering upon manhood, and not yet invested with 
its legal responsibilities, must have greeted the shores of his 
native State. Only five years before, he had left it as a 
stripling before the mast, and he was now returning to it as 
the master of a noble ship, with a valuable cargo on board, 
the fruit in great measure of his own skill and exertions, and 
with the consciousness of an established reputation that would 
thereafter enable him to command opportunities in the road 
to rank and fortune. 

The combiiaation of circumstances wliich thus led iiim.at this 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 11 

early age so suddenly and unexpectedly to the pinnacle of his 
ambition, and a position of such grave and honorable respon- 
sibility, cannot but arrest the attention of the most thought- 
less reader. To such as may be disposed to account it 
fortuitous it certainly presents a remarkable problem in the 
calculation of chances. But to those who believe, that there 
is " a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we 
will," this wonderful adaptation of the means to the end, 
and these events, seemingly so accidental and disconnected, 
working harmoniously to show how capacity and success 
may be the reward of energy and faithfulness in the spring- 
time of life, will suggest a more inspiring solution, in 
the lesson of instruction and encouragement which it was 
intended to convey. There is not the slightest reason for 
believing that young Sturgis entered the counting-room of 
his kinsman with any especial purpose in reference to his 
subsequent career, the only apparent cause being the willing- 
ness of a relative to lend to him a helping hand in preparing 
him for mercantile life ; but the knowledge which he thus 
acquired of the qualities and relative natures of furs was 
doubtless the chief external cause of his early and surpris- 
ing success. It induced his first commander to select him 
as his assistant in trading with the natives. This opened 
wide to him the door for the learning of their languages, 
the cultivation of their confidence and friendship, and the 
acquisition of tact and skill in dealing with them ; and these 
attainments, already great, were doubtless of most important 
influence in causing his appointment as chief mate of the 
" Ulysses," which, again, was the introduction to his subse- 
quent precocious and successful career. 

As his early qualification had, while he was gaining it, no 
direct reference to the great results to which it led, so the 
opportunities for its almost immediate and successful appli- 
cation had no probable connection with any such use of it in 
the ordinary course o£ events. The most extravagant fancy 



12 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

could not have pictured a more improbable thing than the 
sudden elevation to which a mutiny on board of another 
ship, upon a far-distant and wild coast, was so soon to raise 
him; or the further advancement which was to follow so 
immediately, in his next voyage, from the resignation of the 
master, vesting in him the command of the ship, and consti- 
tuting him th^ sole conductor of one of the most arduous and 
resjionsible enterprises of the naval profession. 

Of course the owners of the vessel were solicitous for the 
continuance of such an agent in their service. She was 
accordingly at once fitted out, and sailed under his command 
on another similar voyage, which also proved eminently suc- 
cessful, terminating in June in the year 1806. 

Mr. Sturgis, or, as he was then uniformly styled, Captain 
Sturgis, was now first in the foremost rank of all engaged in 
this department of commercial enterprise ; and his services 
were of course eagerly sought for. Mr. Theodore Lyman, a 
merchant of Boston, had become largely interested in the 
North-west trade. He had, at this time, two ships on the 
Coast ; and was fitting out another for the same destination, 
named the " Atahualpa." He offered Captain Sturgis very 
liberal terms to take command of this ship and proceed to the 
Coast for one season, and assume the charge and direction of 
all his business there ; and thence to go on to Canton, taking 
with him one of the two other vessels, and the'furs collected 
by all of them, to be exchanged for homeward cargoes. This 
offer was accepted ; and, in October, he sailed on his fourth 
voyage round the world. Thus the sailor-boy of 1798 had 
become in 1806, as it were, an admiral, in command of a 
fleet upon the Coast, where, eight years before, he had 
arrived in the humblest station. This expedition also proved 
very profitable both to Mr. Lyman and to himself, and termi- 
nated on his arrival in Boston in June, 1808. 

Tho threatening aspect of the foreign relations of the 
United States, and the embargo which then paralyzed 'com- 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 13 

raercial enterprise, detained Mr. Sturgis at home until April 
in the year 1809; when he again sailed in command of the 
" Atahualpa," for Mr. Lyman, iij)on a direct voyage to Canton, 
with an outfit exceeding three hundred thousand Spanish 
milled dollars, to be invested there in a return cargo. In this 
adventure the late Mr. John Bromfield was associated with 
him, — a gentleman of great intelligence and elevated charac- 
ter. A warm friendship immediately grew up between them, 
which constituted much of the happiness of their lives, until 
the lamented death of Mr. Bromfield in the year 1849. 

The vessel, lightly armed with a few small cannon, came to 
anchor in Macao Roads (about seventy miles from Canton) 
on the night of the 21st of August; and, early the next 
morning, was attacked by a fleet of sixteen Ladrone or pirati- 
cal vessels, some of them heavily armed, under command of 
A'ppotesi, a noted rebel-chief. The fight was a very desperate 
one on the part of the comparatively small crew of the '' Ata- 
hualpa," and continued for more than an hour ; some of the 
pirates being so near as to succeed in throwing combustibles 
on board, which set the vessel on fire in many places. But 
the coolness and intrepidity of her commander, aided by the 
presence and assistance of Mr. Bromfield, inspired her gal- 
lant crew with invincible courage. The pirates were repulsed 
with great slaughter, and the ship was enabled to escape, and 
find protection under the guns of the Portuguese fort. She was 
again attacked by them on her passage up, in company with 
four other American ships, but finally reached Canton in safety. 
This voyage, like all the rest in which he had been engaged, 
terminated very successfully, and he arrived at Boston in 
April, 1810. 

By twelve years of arduous effort and unremitted toil in 
the service of others, at sea and in foreign lands, and by pru- 
dent economy, Mr. Sturgis had at last acquired sufficient means 
for establishing himself in business on his own account. He 
concluded, therefore, to abandon the sea; and now entered into 



14 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

copartnership with Mr. John Bryant, under the name and firm 
of " Bryant and Sturgis," as merchants resident in Boston for 
the prosecution of foreign trade. This copartnership continued 
for more than half a century, being for many years the oldest 
in the city of Boston, and was indeed terminated only by the 
death of Mr. Sturgis. Although these gentlemen were unlike 
in many respects, and entertained different views on many 
subjects, their connection was entirely harmonious ; and the 
writer of this Memoir heard Mr. Sturgis, not long before his 
decease, remark that no unpleasant word had ever passed 
between them. Their business was principally with places 
upon the Coast of the Pacific and with China ; and, from the 
year 1810 to 1840, more than half of the trade carried on 
with those countries from the United States was under their 
direction. They occasional!}', however, had commercial inter- 
course with nearly every quarter of the world. 

In the year 1810, Mr. Sturgis was united in marriage 
to Elizabeth M., daughter of John Davis, Judge of the Dis- 
trict Court of the United States for the District of Massa- 
chusetts : clarum et venerabile nomen, which, to those who 
knew him, recalls the image of one of the most scholarly, 
benignant, and venerable gentlemen, and one of the purest, 
most enlightened, and humane judges, that ever blessed so- 
ciety, or ever adorned the bench. His presence was felt as a 
benediction no less in court than everywhere else. It was he, 
who, not long before his death, while sitting, in an autumn 
twilight, at his window in the country, conversing with a 
friend upon old age, and the falling leaves as illustrative of 
the decay of life, replied, " Yes ; but then we see the stars 
more plainly." 

Mr. and Mrs. Sturgis had six children : one son, who died 
at an early age ; and five daughters, all of whom were mar- 
ried, and three of whom, with their mother, survive him. 

It could not be otherwise than that a person of the mental 
strength and activity of Mr. Sturgis should soon become 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 15 

generally known and appreciated, and that any political 
party should desire to increase its power and influence by 
sending him as its representative in the public councils. 
Nor was it less natural, that one whom rapid and unexampled 
success must have inspired with confidence should be willing 
to widen the sphere of his reputation and influence. We 
find Jtccordingly, that, in the year 1814, he was elected a 
representative of the town of Boston in the Legislature of 
Massachusetts ; and such was his capacity and fidelity, that, 
from that period until 1845, he was for the greater portion 
of the time a member of the House or of the Senate. He was 
not, however, and from his nature could not be, popular in 
political life, nor fitted to succeed as an aspirant for political 
preferment, even if his taste or inclination had pointed in that 
direction. He was altogether too independent and self-relying, 
and too single-minded in his conceptions of duty, to enter into 
the compromises required of the leaders of a political party, 
however necessary such compromises may be considered, and 
however justifiable in persons of diff"erent temperament, or of 
what perhaps may be accounted broader views of policy. 
No party could rely upon his support of measures, or his 
acquiescence in them, for its own sake, when, in his private 
judgment, they conflicted with the general welfare. The 
too often controlling argument, that the preservation of the 
existence or power of the party is the one thing essential 
for the public safety, or that 'i the party is the State," could 
never weaken his conviction, that he was the servant of 
the State, and not of any party. His political influence, 
however, was the greater in general society ; and was perhaps 
as potent as that of any other individual not in the highest 
rank of public service. He was nominated for election to 
the House of Representatives in Congress at the time when 
Mr. Nathan Appleton was a candidate, as representing the 
principle of protection in opposition to that of free trade ; but 
he withdrew from the canvass in order to secure his friend's 



16 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

success. He was an active and influential member of the 
Convention for revising tlie Constitution of the State in 1820. 
For some years preceding his death, he had been the oldest 
member of the- Boston Marine Society, of which he was for 
a time the President. He was an honorary member of 
the Massachusetts Mechanics' Charitable Association ; and a 
member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, to whoso 
archives he made important contributions, and to whose funds 
he was a liberal benefactor. 

Of the character, intellectual ability, and varied attainments 
of Mr. Sturgis, there happily remain memorials highly valu- 
able and interesting, which, for the sake of histor}^, and in 
justice to his memory, should be put in a permanent form. 
They consist of his " Diary, or Journal of his First Voyage " ; 
" Three Lectures upon tHe North-west Coast," originally de- 
livered before the Mercantile Library Association in 1845-6, 
and subsequently, by request, before the members of the 
House of Representatives ; an article in the " North-American 
Review" in 1822, (vol. xv., art. 18, p. 370,) upon the subject 
of " The Claims of Russia upon the North-west Coast " ; a 
pamphlet containing the substance of a Lecture upon the 
Oregon Question in 1815; and two articles upon the tragedy 
on board the United States brig-of-war " Somers," printed in 
the "Semi-weekly Courier" of Aug. 7, 1843, entitled "The 
Somers Mutiny." 

The most interesting portion of his life, as affording means 
for contemplating the formation and the peculiarities of his 
character, was that which began with his first voyage to tlie 
North-west Coast at sixteen years of age, and ended with 
his last expedition abroad, from which he returned at the age 
of twenty-eight, after attaining a measure of success, in knowl- 
edge, reputation, and wealth, which might satisfy the reason- 
able hopes of most men, if it were the result of a long life 
ardently devoted to the pursuit. 

The "Diary" contains not only the records of events of 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 17 

ordinary daily interest (as the courses of the vessel, and barters 
with the natives and others), which might be made in moments 
snatched from duty or rest, but full descriptions of the places 
visited, of the various tribes, of the modes of traffic, of the 
manners and habits of the Indians, interspersed with occa- 
sional impressive descriptions of scenery, and with anecdotes 
characteristic of savage life. And with them are mingled 
citations from Shakspeare, Milton, and Goldsmith ; indicating, 
that, amid all the severe and engrossing labors of his daily 
life, this boy-man was nourishing the germs of a literary taste, 
which was to ornament, and minister to the happiness and use- 
fulness of, his maturer years. " Ossian " was one of his favorite 
books at sea ; and, to the mind of a young man, turning from 
the exhausting drudgeries of daily toil to seek literary food 
in pastures of his own choosing, there was a not unaccount- 
able affinity in the tone and sentiment of that vague and 
mystical poetry with the wild and often sublime solitudes of 
the North-west Coast, where so many of his days, and watches 
of the night, were passed. 

In this " Diary," also, are contained tables of the longitude 
and latitude of every place visited, and of the number of skins 
acquired ; also a sort of dictionary or list of the most fa- 
miliar Indian words, — the English in one column, and those 
of the several tribes opposite to them in corresponding ones, 
— evidencing the pains he took for the accurate learning of 
their languages. Of these he became so thoroughly a 
master, that, as the writer of this Memoir has been recently 
informed by one, who, engaged in the like enterprises, saw 
him upon the Coast, he could not only carry on the trade 
with the natives, and converse with them easily about matters 
of ordinary intercourse in their own tongues, but could freely 
discuss with them any other topics in which they were inter- 
ested, including themes of religion, philosophy, and morals, 
as well as of trade ; and could banter and exchange repartees 
with them as familiarly as any one of their number. The 

3 



18 MEMOIR OP WILLIAM STURGIS. 

same gentleman states further, that his popularity with the 
Indian chiefs was unbounded ; that he was universally known, 
welcomed, and trusted ; and that he exercised an influence 
among them, to which no white man ever before attained, and 
in which no chief excelled him. 

He not only kept this minute and accurate record of all the 
transactions relating to his own vessel and his trade, but one 
also of all the vessels which they met on the Coast, or of which 
they could obtain any account ; — of their voyages, the places 
they visited, the number of skins they obtained, and all the 
other incidents tending to a perfect knowledge of the business. 
His *' Journal " is replete with criticisms and comments upon 
the manner of conducting the trade, and the vices, faults, follies, 
and mistakes of those engaged in it ; evincing a clearness of 
vision, maturity of judgment, and decision of character, truly 
wonderful in a lad of seventeen years of age ; and winding 
up with a detailed statement of the course to be pursued in 
order to make a successful voyage. 

By the extensive knowledge of details which he was ever 
careful to obtain, and by a constant study of the various ele- 
ments and phases of the business in which he was engaged, he 
afterwards became enabled to foresee the fluctuations and 
changes which would necessarily follow the precipitate em- 
barkation in it of numerous adventurers whom its profitable- 
ness would soon allure, and thus to avoid their mis'calculations 
and the mischances which befell most of them, and to accumu- 
late wealth for himself and his employers, while many others 
at the same time encountered only ruinous losses. 

There are upon record instances of marvellous precocity 
in poetical invention, and in limited departments of science, 
which have excited the astonishment and admiration of the 
woi'ld ; but it may well be doubted whether any such instance 
can be accounted more surprising, in its kind, than this, of 
practical ability in a youth, leaping as it were in an instant 
from the forecastle to the quarter-deck an accomplished navi- 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 19 

gator, endowed with the irresistible power of command, which 
a strange and mutinous crew could not but obey ; — speedily 
attaining, as if by intuition, a knowledge of the principles, 
details, complications, and whole scope of a newly discovered 
trade on a far-distant, savage coast ; with a knowledge, also, 
of human nature, and a tact in controlling men, both civilized 
and savage, which very few in long lives of service among 
them acquire ; — governing and governed by the principles 
of an inflexible justice and by a high sense of honor ; — and 
mingling with the severest of human labors and responsi- 
bilities the habitual cultivation of literary taste. 

The following are extracts from the " Diary," on his first 
arrival on the Coast, a few days before entering upon his 
eighteenth year, with no other opportunities for mental cul- 
ture than those above stated, and none for this sort of com- 
position but such as could be snatched at intervals from 
the laborious drudgery and miscellaneous interruptions of life 
in the forecastle. 

Here are two descriptions of scenery in Norfolk Sound : — 

"The appearance of the country here is really romantic. On one 
side of us, within pistol-shot, and which seems in the evening almost 
as if you could touch it, is a thick spruce wood, extending close to the 
water's edge, frowning in native horror, and looks to be only fit for 
wild beasts to prowl in : on the other side appears a mixture of land 
and water. At short distances are passages which either run inland, 
or, by joining, cut the country up into small islands. Some of them 
are not much larger than the ship, and numbers much smaller. They 
are composed of rocks rising just clear of the surface of the water, 
on which is sprinkled a little soil ; and from this rises a thick cluster 
of tall spruce-trees, which, in the tout ensemble, look veiy handsome, 
and often bring to my mind the romantic little Island of Poplars, in 
which is Rousseau's tomb. Add to this the melancholy sighing of the 
wind^among the pines. But a truce to descriptions ; and let me pro- 
ceed to business 

" The place where we walked was all rocks ; and, on ^he shore- 
side of us, they rose like a barrier, in some places full an hundred 



20 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

feet perpendicular. On the tops of these (which overhung all the 
beach beyond the Point) again are tall spruce-trees, which seem to 
grow on the edge of the precipices as plenty and as thick as on the 
lowland. Some of them, Avhich had advanced their heads too high 
for the feeble support their roots afforded, had shared the fate of all 
such foolish pretenders, by being dashed from the pinnacle to the 
bottom of the precipice ; and, with their roots still clinging to the 
rocks above, and their heads on the beach below, offered an instruc- 
tive example to thousands, who, by presuming on as slight founda- 
tions, have no right to expect aught but the same fate. ... In the 
afternoon, two large cafioes came round the East Point; and, as they 
turned it, all joined in a war-song, which they rattled off with spirit 
quite handsomely. Upon their approach, we found that they each 
contained a petty chief, and about nine young men. The chiefs, who 
were both good-looking men, and carried themselves with great 
dignity, sat upon a high box in the middle of the canoes. They had 
beards about two inches long, with a considerable pair of whiskers ; 
and wore very long hair, which, by Avhat we could understand, was 
taken from the heads of their enemies killed in battle. The tops of 
their heads were powdered with small geese-down ; and a long red 
and yellow feather, painted, which rose over all, completed the head- 
dress. In their ears they Avore a kind of shell of pearl, which is of 
some value here, and, when the coast was first visited, was esteemed 
of very great. Over their shoulders they wore a cloth of their own 
manufacture, about a fathom square, made out of the avooI of their 
mountain sheep : round the edges they Avork in sea-otter's fur ; and, on 
the Avhole, it makes a very handsome appearance. What they wore on 
their legs I could not say, as they did not condescend to rise from their 
seats, but, after purchasing three or four muskets, left us, and went 
on shore. All the young men in the canoes had their faces daubed 
with red and black, and their heads powdered with red ochre and 
geese-down. This, though no doubt only what is conformable to 
their ideas of beauty, yet made them look not far unlike Milton's de- 
cription of Death, — ' Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell.' " 

The following is an account of a visit to an Indian habi- 
tation : — 

" Alsatree now took me by the hand, and led me towards the 
house. In entering it, you may well imagine my astonishment, when, 
instead of six or eight people, as I expected, I beheld about forty 



MEMOIR OP WILLIAM STURGIS. 21 

people — men, women, and children — seated around an enormous fire, 
which was made in the middle of the house. Some were employed 
in making fish-hooks for halibut ; some, wooden bowls. The women 
were busy broiling and boiling halibut ; the children, waiting upon 
the old folks ; and several of the females, who were not slaves, 
making wooden lips. At my entrance, labor stood suspended ; and 
they looked at me with about as much astonishment as Hamlet, when 
he first saw his father's ghost." 

It appears that aflfection and sentiment are not exclusively 
confined, as seems sometimes to be supposed, to what we call 
the civilized heart. Speaking of the death of Captain New- 
bury, who had acquired the confidence and friendship of the 
Indians by his kindness and justice, a chief said : — 

" Newbury — a good man ! He is now gone to a good country, and 
I shall not see him again : but I have his chest at my house in which 
he kept his clothes ; and, when I look at it, I think of him. 

" Mr. Bumstead and myself went on shore on the beach, and took 
a walk through their huts. There were about fourteen, with eleven 
or twelve persons around each ; and they did not look unlike what 
our imagination pictures to us of bands of robbers seated around 
their fires in some dark forest, where they waylay the unwary 
traveller. They, however, so far from molesting, treated us with the 
greatest civility ; and, as Ave passed each tent, Avould insist upon our 
'sitting down with them. But, after having seen those we knew, and 
shaken hands with all, we returned immediately on board.* We saw 
Shanakate, the Great Eater ; and though supperless, yet he appeared 
happy, surrounded by his children, whose faces, newly varnished Avith 
train oil and red ochre, shone by the light of the fire like the body 
of a chaise newly painted, and verified Goldsmith's description of a 
port of rural felicity, where the fond father 

' Smiles at his cheerful fire, and round surveys 
His children's looks, that brighten with the blaze.' " 

T 

There are several notices of cases where chiefs had been 
entrapped on board of vessels, and confined in irons until 



22 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STDRGIS. 

compelled to regain their freedom by heavy ransoms. The 
following is one of them: — 

" He [one of the chiefs], however, would not venture himself on 
board of us ; having been several times made prisoner by different 
vessels, and obliged to ransom himself by giving up the greatest part 
of his skins. This was the way some people, not worthy of the name 
of men (and who, I thank Heaven, cannot call themselves Americans), 
took to make their fortunes. C , C — —., and Alsatree, the prin- 
cipal chiefs on the coast, they trepanned on board their ships ; and, 
having seized and laid some of them in irons, forced them, contrary 
to every principle of honor or humanity, to deliver up their skins 
before they would give them their liberty." 

From the earlier entries in the " Journal," it appears, 
that, when he arrived upon the Coast, the author was imbued 
with all the prejudices against the Indians, which, at that 
period, prevailed so universally among his countrymen, and the 
sources of which he attempts in the third Lecture to explain. 
This circumstance invests his subsequent opinions, formed 
after long and familiar personal acquaintance with them, and 
very peculiar opportunities for careful and extensive observa- 
tion, with a peculiar interest and truthfulness. And so keenly 
did he always feel and express himself upon the subject, that 
probably no thought would have cheered his dying hour more 
gratefully, than that he should be instrumental in leaving on 
record a testimonial in their behalf. 

The three " Lectures " are particularly valuable for their 
developmentof the habits of life and the moral and intellectual 
characters of those Indian tribes by one who lived with them 
on terms of familiar and confiding friendship, and as constitut- 
ing the most important and trustworthy record, if not the 
only one, of their later, soon to become their final, history. 
Nor are they less strikingly illustrative of the noble *traits of 
character of their author in the details of his intercourse with 
the Indians, and of the efibrts which he ever loved to make, in 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 23 

public and in private, to vindicate them from the obloquy and 
hatred of which they have been too generally and thought- 
lessly the object^. 

His opportunities were such as particularly qualified him 
for this undertaking, since his first visit to the Coast was made 
in 1799, about twenty years after Cook's discovery of Nootka 
.Sound, and while the generation was still living that "wit- 
nessed the arrival of the first white man among them ; and 
many of the very individuals who were prominent at the 
time of Cook's visit were still in the prime of life, and became 
personally known to him." He passed a number of years 
among them at the time when they were first becoming known 
to the civilized world, and were in a state approximating to that 
in which the discoverers of the northern portion of our conti- 
nent found the aboriginal inhabitants ; and he continued to carry 
on the trade with them, personally or by agents, until it ceased 
to be valuable, — witnessing its growth, maximum, decrease, 
and final abandonment by the citizens of the United States. 

The " Lectures " are written in a clear, simple, and ex- 
pressive style, indicating familiarity with English literature, 
and at times exhibiting the truest eloquence in sentiment 
and description. 

Although requested for the press by the appreciative 
audience to which they were originally addressed, and after- 
wards by others, the author uniformly declined to publish 
them, from distrust, as is understood, of their value. They 
are, however, well worthy of being perpetuated, as interesting 
and authentic memorials of a very important though temporary 
department of commercial enterprise, and of the manners and 
characters of a people now rapidly becoming extinct; and 
also as a vindication of the natives from the unmerited re- 
proaches heaped upon them by the -corrupters, oppressors, 
and murderers of their race. 

His feelings upon this subject are thus emphatically ex- 
pressed at the commencement of the first Lecture: — 



24 MEMOIR OF WILLIA>L STURGIS. 

" These early visits gave me the opportunity, too, of observing 
changes in the habits and manners of the Indians, effected by inter- 
course with a more civilized race ; and, I regret to add, brought 
to my knowledge the injustice, violence, and bloodshed which have 
marked the progress of this intercourse from first to last. I cannot 
expect that others will feel the same degree of interest in these 
reminiscences that I feel ; but I have thought that they might en- 
gage your attention for a while, and perhaps awaken sympathy for 
the remnant of a race fast disappearing from the earth, — victims of 
injustice, cruelty, and oppression, and of a policy that seems to recog- 
nize ^ower as the sole standard of right." 

Again, near the dose : — 

"The numerous tragical occurrences on the Coast show the per- 
sonal hazards incurred by those engaged in the trade, and perhaps 
warrant the remark of Mr. Greenhow, in his valuable memoir upon 
Oregon, prepared by order of Congress. Speaking of the American 
trade upon the Coast, he says : ' The persons engaged in this trade 
were constantly exposed to the most dreadful hardships and dangers, 
against which notliing but extraordinary courage and skill on their 
part could have enabled them to struggle successfully. More than 
one American ship has been seized, and all on board massacred, by 
the natives of the Pacific coasts ; and seldom, indeed, did a vessel 
from the United States complete her voyage in that ocean, without 
losing some part of her crew by the treachery of those with whom 
they were dealing.' Mr. Greenhow and myself agree, in the main, 
as to the facts, but are at issue as to the cause. He ascribes it to 
the treachery and ferocity of the Indians ; I, with better opportunities 
for investigating and ascertaining the truth, find the cause in the 
lawless and brutal violence of white men : and it would be easy to 
show that these fatal disasters might have been averted by a different 
treatment of the natives, and by prudence and proper precaution on 
the part of their civilized visitors." 

The second Lecture is more particularly devoted to the 
character, manners, and domestic habits of the Indians. The 
following description will probably surprise many who have 
been accustomed to look upon them as little better than 
beasts of the field ; and, rightly considered, might do some- 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 25 

thing towards improving and elevating the domestic relations 
of parent and child, as generally acted upon even in highly 
civilized Christian communities : — 

" The Indians of whom I speak are piscatory in their pursuits ; 
reside upon the borders of the sea, from which they draw their prin- 
cipal subsistence ; and use altogether the canoe, both for this purpose 
and for transporting themselves and families from place to place. 
Their migrations are limited to a change of residence from one per- 
manent village to another at different seasons of the year, following 
the periodical movements of the several species of fish upon which 
they mainly depend for food ; and to trading excursions, which are 
often made, sometimes to distant points, visiting tribes residing several 
hundred miles from their own village. Upon these occasions they 
are usually accompanied by their women and children, who are 
adroit and skilful in the management of canoes, and, in taking and 
curing fish, are as efficient as the men themselves. These circum- 
stances, exercising a material influence upon their domestic and social 
character, have, in a degree, softened the naturally stern nature of 
these Indians, and rendered them less sanguinary than the tribes in 
the interior. War, however, is not unfrequent ; and bravery and 
skill in conducting it are qualities commanding as high admiration 
and respect as among the most wai-like people : and the Indian upon 
the borders of the Pacific accords to an accomplished and successful 
destroyer of his fellow-men the same pre-eminence that is conceded 
to him by the most civilized nations. In their domestic relations^ they 
manifest as much tenderness and affection as can he found in any state 
of society. The constant presence of thSir women gives to them a 
proper influence ; and their position, though subordinate in some 
respects, is, upon the whole, as favorable as that occupied by their 
sex in civilized life, — nominal submission, actual control. Children 
are uniformly treated with tenderness and indulgence, seldom punished, 
and never struck. 

" The Indian doctrine is, that it may be necessary to beat dogs, 
but not to strike a child. The children, on their part, seem intui- 
tively respectful and submissive to their seniors. I do not recollect 
to have seen punishment inflicted upon a child but in a single instance, 
and then not very severely. A woman, with a family of children, 
was alongside of the ship in her canoe, making some purchases ; and, 
among other articles, she obtained a quantity of molasses, which was 

4 



26 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

put into a large tub ia her canoe. A little naked urchin, two or three 
years old, half covered with oil and dirt, made repeated attempts to 
get at the molasses, much to the mother's annoyance. At length, in 
a great pet, she caught the child by the arms, and plunged it into the 
tub, leaving it seated in the viscid substance up to its chin. The 
child bore the punishment with as much stoicism, and employed him- 
self in the same manner, as a young Yankee would have done. 

" The only occasion upon which blows are inflicted is in the prac- 
tice of a singular custom among them. At times during the Avinter, 
in a cold, frosty morning, all the boys of a village, from five to ten 
years old, assemble upon a sandy beach in a state of nudity; and, 
each having furnished himself with a bunch of rods, they wade into 
the water up to their armpits : and then commences an uproarious 
scene ; each one using his rods with his whole strength in thrashing 
every one Avho comes within his reach, always giving a preference to 
those of his own size. This continues for some time ; when, at a 
given signal, a general plunge and a short swim finishes the frolic, 
and they resume their garments and their gravity. The Indians 
say that this practice hardens the bodies of the little fellows, and the 
flagellation they get loosens their skins, and thus promotes their 
gi'owth." 

These untaught savages do not appear to have attained to 
the scientific discovery in favor of the flagellation of children, 
— that it is sahitary as a counter-irritant, in order to relieve 
irritation within ; but they seem to have found out what may be 
more valuable, namely, the means of preventing it. It proba- 
bly Jljiad never occurred to them as a convenient safety-valve 
for letting off the impatience, spleen, or ill-temper of the 
parent. 

A conversation with a chief concerning the ornaments with 
which the Indians are accustomed to adorn themselves is alike 
amusing and suggestive : — 

" Their fancy for many articles could be traced to a desire to imi- 
tate their somewhat more polished visitors ; and the absurdity, if 
any there was, lay in the manner in which they used them. When 
attacked upon this point, they would dryly refer to some of our 
usages as equally absurd with their own. Talking one day upon such 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 27 

matters with Altadsee, a sarcastic old chief of the Hanslong tribe, 
I ridiculed the practice of covering their own and their children's 
garments with rows of brass and gilt buttons, and loading them with 
old keys, to be kept bright at a great expense of labor. ' Why,' said 
he, ' the white men wear buttons.' — ' True,' I replied ; ' but they are 
useful to us : the fashion of our garments requires buttons to secure 
them.' — ' Ah ! ' said he, ' perhaps it is so ; but I could never discover 
the usefulness of half a dozen buttons upon your coat-tails : and, as for 
the waste of labor in scouring old keys, you are right ; it is very fool- 
ish, and almost as ridiculous as the fashion, which I am told prevails 
in your country, of placing brass balls upon iron fences in ft-ont of your 
houses, to be polished every day, and tarnished every night. Truly,' 
he added, ' Eijets hardi and Hanslong hardi cootnanous coonnug ' 
('White people and Hanslong people are equally foolish ')." 

Their dwellings, furniture, and household ornaments are 
thus described : — 

" Their dwellings are of a more permanent character than those 
of the Indians in the interior. In the winter villages, some of the 
houses are quite large, covered with boards, and probably as com- 
fortable as the houses in London and Paris are represented to have 
been five centuries ago. I have seen houses upon the southern part 
of the Coast more than one hundred feet in length, and forty in 
breadth ; and Jewett, who was tAvo years a prisoner among them, 
describes Maquinna's house at Nootka as a hundred and fifty feet 
long. In articles of furniture, either for use or ornament, they are 
quite deficient ; and their mode of living is so simple, that little is 
required. The only ornamental articles I recollect to have seen in 
their houses were copper tea-kettles. These we imported from Hol- 
land, and carried to the Coast in large quantities. It would have been 
almost sacrilege among the Indians to have degraded this beautiful 
piece of furniture, as they esteemed it, to culinary uses. It was 
placed in an elevated and conspicious position in the house, kept per- 
fectly bright, and regarded with as much solicitude and care as I 
have elsewhere seen bestowed upon a tawdry French vase, filled with 
showy artificial flowers, and carefully covered with a glass case." 

Of their usual demeanor, he says : — 

" The Indians are not a joyous race, and have few amusements. 
The only public ones are singing and dancing, and these not in a style 



28 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

calculated to inspire or indulge mirth. The women take no active 
part in the dance ; but their pleasant voices are often heard in song, 
sometimes with great sweetness and pathos. Their musical instru- 
ments are a hollow cylinder, used as a drum, and rattles of various 
sorts ; but they are only used to mark time, and stimulate the dancers, 
who take great pains to prepare themselves for the occasion, and only 
appear in full dress. When engaged in the war-dance, they cover 
the head with scalps taken from their enemies, the hair filled with the 
down of sea-fowl or the eagle. Their mode of scalping adapts it to 
this purpose ; for they take off the whole skin of the head, preserving 
it entire, with the hair attached. I cannot commend their grace in 
the dance ; but their spirit is worthy of imitation. They engage in 
it with some life and animation : at least it was easy to discover 
whether the dancers were awake or asleep, — a fact not readily ascer- 
tained in modern days in more polished communities." 

After commenting upon the imperfect, prejudiced, and par- 
tial descriptions of Indian character generally to be found in 
books and in the stories of travellers, Mr. Sturgis thus an- 
nounces the result of his own observation and study of it: — 

" My own opportunities were favorable for observing and estimat- 
ing Indian character ; but, even with a close and long-continued 
intimacy under circumstances that tended to dispel the reserve that 
an Indian maintains in his intercourse with strangers, I found it 
scarcely possible to comprehend, much less to describe him, or to 
understand his motive for much that he does. His character is made 
up of incongruous and seemingly conflicting elements. The noblesf 
impulses and best feelings of man's nature are in him closely allied 
to brutal propensities ; and the bright and dark hues are so mixed 
and blended, that at times they are scarcely distinguishable, and seem 
lost in one another. He is, even to those who have most carefully 
studied him, a mysterious being, and must remain so ; for we cannot 
fully comprehend his impulses and motives: and doubtless Mr. 
Schoolcraft is correct in remarking, as he does, that ' the civilized 
man is no less a mysterious and unaccountable being to an Indian, 
because his springs of action are alike unintelligible to him.' But, 
while it may not be possible to comprehend all the anomalies of In- 
dian character, enough may be discovered and imderstood to entitle 
him to much higher consideration than he usually enjoys. Few have 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 29 

the opportunity to make a just estimate of this race. Those who 
form an opinion of them from the wretched, degraded remnants of 
the tribes who formerly occupied New England, such as the Penobscots 
and others, or from delegations from more distant tribes that are 
occasionally paraded about and exhibited, like wild animals, as a 
show, will do the Indian great injustice, and have a very erroneous 
impression. To judge the Indian faii'ly, he must be seen, as I have 
seen him, in his native forest, before he becomes contaminated by 
intercourse with civilized men ; for, to our reproach be it spoken, 
contamination and degradation invariably and speedily follow such 
intercourse. 

" In this original state, while he retains his independence, and pre- 
serves self-respect, he is proud even of existence ; and it is not a 
mere poetical fiction in the writer who says, that ' the Indian in his 
primitive state stands erect, his foot firmly planted upon his mother 
earth, surveys the wide expanse of Nature, and, with conscious superi- 
ority, strikes his breast, and exclaims exultingly, " I am a man " ! ' I 
have at times perceived the workings of strong and lofty feelings in 
the Indian's bosom, that could not be more truly or happily expressed. 
Mr. Catlin, with all his frippery, has given many interesting facts 
respecting remote Indians, who, at the time of his visit, were little 
changed by the intrusion of civilization ; and I doubt not his state- 
ments may be relied on, with some little allowance for his evident 
partiality for the red man. His conclusion, after a long residence 
among them, is, in his own words, that ' the North- American Indian, 
in his primitive state, is a high-minded, honorable, hospitable being ' ; 
and in another passage he asserts, that ' the North- American Indian, 
*in his native state, is an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave, warlike, 
cruel, revengeful, relentless, yet honorable, contemplative, and re- 
ligious being.' My own experience does not lead me to dissent from 
this opinion. It may sound strangely to hear the Indian spoken of 
as a religious being ; but, if a constant reference in all that he does 
to the supposed will of his Creator constitutes a religious being, the 
North- American Indian is eminently one. Mr. Schoolcraft, speaking 
of the great tribes of the Far West, says, ' It would surprise any per- 
son to become acquainted with the variety and extent to which an In- 
dian is influenced by his religious views and superstitions : he takes 
no important step witliout reference to them ; they are his guiding 
motives in peace and in war ; he follows the chase under their influ- 
ence, and his very amusements take their tincture from them.' 



30 MEMOm OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

" To the Indian, much that Ave do seems ridiculous and absurd ; 
and some of the practices of civilized life are as revolting to his feel- 
ings as their most barbarous usages are to ours. I have often been 
struck with the comments of sensible Indians upon what they had 
noticed or learned respecting our customs, particularly by those of 
Keow, the principal chief of Caiganee, a place much frequented by 
trading- vessels. Keow was, upon the whole, the most intelligent 
Indian I met with. He was a shrewd observer, of quiet perception, 
with a comprehensive and discriminating mind, and insatiable curi- 
osity. He would occasionally pass several days at a time on board 
my ship ; and I have often sat up half the night with him, ansAvei'ing 
questions, and listening to his remarks. I have no doubt that our 
conversation, first and last, would fill several folio volumes, even in 
the sight-destroying type of modern pamphlet -printing. His com- 
ments on some features of our social system, and upon the discrepan- 
cies and inconsistencies in our professions and practice as Christians, 
particularly in relation to war, duelling, capital punishment for depre- 
dations upon property, and other less important matters, were perti- 
nent and forcible, and by no means flattering to us, or calculated to 
nourish our self-conceit." 

This Lecture closes with a thrilling description of an Indian 
execution ; which, but for its length, should be inserted here, 
as a specimen of the rare powers of Mr. Sturgis as a writer ; 
and is omitted only in the confident belief that the whole 
course of Lectures will soon be given to the public, as here- 
after suggested. 

The third Lecture is devoted to the consideration of the 
treatment of the Indians of the North-west Coast at the hands 
of the white man, " showing that he was the aggressor ; and 
vindicating the red men from the charge that has often been 
brought against tliem, of wanton cruelty and unprq^voked 
barbarity." Although evidently written under the influence 
of strong feelings of commiseration for the wrongs inflicted 
upon this unhappy race, such as a generous and lofty nature 
could not but entertain in contemplating such a subject, the 
statements made from his personal knowledge, and the his- 
torical evidence adduced, seem fully to sustain his conclusion. 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 31 

It closes with the following beautiful and touching declara- 
tion, in which his descendants may hold his name embalmed 
in precious remembrance, as that of a truly great and noble 
man. No one ever possessed a larger power for evil or for 
good, with perfect impunity in its exercise, than William 
Sturgis* possessed on the North-west Coast; and nO man ever 
exercised it with profounder humanity, more inflexible justice, 
a more conscientious sense of responsibility, and greater kind- 
ness, than he displayed towards these uncivilized, helpless, 
and outraged inhabitants of the wilderness. 

" "When I call up the past, and look back upon the trials and 
dangers of my early pursuits, it is with feelings that I should vainly 
attempt to describe. I have cause for gratitude to a higher Power, 
not only for escape from danger, but for being spared all participation 
in the deadly conflicts and murderous scenes which at times sur- 
rounded me. I may well be grateful that no blood of the red man 
ever stained my hands ; that no shades of murdered or slaughtered 
Indians disturb my repose ; and the reflection, that neither myself nor 
any one under my command ever did or suffered violence or out- 
rage during years of intercourse with those reputed the most savage 
tribes, gives me a satisfaction, iu exchange for which wealth and 
honors would be as dust in the balance." 

These Lectures were received with great favor by the 
audiences before which they were deliverec^, and they add- 
ed to the general respect previously entertained for-the 
elevated character of the author, as well as to his literary 
reputation. 

The first effort of Mr. Sturgis as an author, in print, was in 
the pamphlet upon the Oregon Question, before alluded to. 

In the year 1821-22, the people of the United States were 
startled by claims suddenly and unexpectedly made by the 
Russian Government to the exclusive possession of the most 
valuable portions of the North-west Coast, amounting virtu- 
ally to the right of exclusive possession of the whole Ameri- 
can continent north of the 51° of latitude, and of holding the 



32 MEMOIR OP WILLIAM STDRGIS. 

Pacific Ocean as a close sea to that extent, although about 
four thousand miles across. 

The Emperor had issued a ukase to this effect, which had 
been communicated by the Russian minister, the Chevalier de 
Poletica, to our Government. By it, all foreign vessels coming 
within one hundred miles of the shores of the territories so 
claimed were declared subject to confiscation and forfeiture, 
with the cargoes on board. 

To Mr. Adams's inquiry for an explanation " of the grounds 
of right, upon principles generally recognized by the laws 
and usages of nations, which 'could warrant the claims and 
regulations contained in the edict," M. de Poletica declared 
himself happy to fulfil the task ; and he undertook in an official 
communication to maintain them upon three bases, — the titles 
of first discovery, of first occupation, and of peaceable and 
uncontested possession for more than half a century. These 
propositions he undertook to establish by a variety of histori- 
cal references and statements, which certainly, to one not 
otherwise informed, made out a very plausible, if not a very 
strong case. 

Such an event could not fail to excite the deepest interest 
among those who were engaged in the trade on the Coast, 
then at its height, and particularly in the mind of Mr. Sturgis, 
who was thoroughly master of the subject by means of his 
personal exploration of the most important portions of the ter- 
ritory included in the ukase, and of the study he had made of 
its history, both by inquiry of the natives, and in the published 
Voyages of the discoverers and adventurers in those regions. 
The importance of the trade at that time was so great, and 
the indignity to the United States which would be involved in 
a summary enforcement of the threat was so manifest, that war 
between the two countries seemed inevitable, unless the jus- 
tice of these claims could be demonstrated, or the assertion 
of them should be abandoned. 

Mr. Sturgis immediately prepared, and published in the 



MEMOIR OP WILLIAM STURGIS. 33 

" North-American Review," a reply to them and to the seve- 
ral arguments adduced by the Russian minister, w^hich, it is 
believed, constitutes a refutation as annihilating as any to be 
found in the records of political discussion. His familiarity 
with all the essential facts and elements of the case from the 
earliest known period, his admirable array of the argument, 
and the clear and vigorous style in which it was presented, 
leave nothing to be desired. It gave the coup de grace to 
the most material portions of the claim, and secured for the 
author an^ extensive reputation for being among the ablest 
public writers, as he had long been among the first of the 
eminent merchants, of his country. 

In the subsequent negotiation with Russia upon the sub- 
ject, she abandoned the chief of these vast pretensions ; the 
United States conceding to her the exclusive right of settle- 
ment within ten leagues of the sea north of latitude 54^ 40', 
— that being the southern limit of the Russian possessions in 
America thus extended. 

The estimation in which this contribution to the " Review " 
was held may be seen in the following remark concerning it, 
in a note from the Hon. Edward Everett, dated 11th Octo- 
ber, 1827: "This consideration naturally leads me to turn 
my thoughts to those gentlemen whose assistance I formerly 
enjoyed ; and, after the tributes which have been publicly paid 
to your article on the North-west Coast, you cannot call it flat- 
tery, if I say, that to no one piece was the ' North-American 
Review ' (under my editorship) so much indebted as to that 
with which you favored me." 

The next subject upon wdiich Mr. Sturgis came before 
the public, with his name, was the sad tragedy on board 
of the United-States brig-of-war " Somers," under Command- 
er Mackenzie, in the sudden execution of one of her offi- 
cers and two seamen, without previous trial, on the charge 
of an attempt to excite a mutiny. It took place in the sum- 
mer of 1843 ; and no event short of the immediate danger of 

5 



34 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

a foreign war probably ever excited the people of the United 
States more profoundly. 

It became the subject of universal animated discussion in 
conversation, and of numerous heated articles in the gazettes 
and periodicals of the day. A great majority of them were 
in favor of Commander Mackenzie ; not only fully sustaining 
him, but attributing to him extravagant praise for heroic con- 
duct in the execution of those unhappy men. Among such 
articles, the most conspicuous was one in the " North-Ameri- 
can Review," which was written by a gentleman of= the legal 
profession, and of eminent literary reputation ; and which, as 
was remarked in the leading paper of the day, would " pass 
down to future inquirers as the contemporary expression 
of opinion of the ablest and most esteemed of the critical 
journals of the country." 

Indeed, so general at first was the belief of the justifiable 
nature of the execution as a matter of irresistible necessity 
(from the impulsive conviction that such an awful transaction 
could not by possibility have otherwise taken place), that com- 
paratively very few were found who thought otherwise, or 
ventured to express such thoughts if they entertained them. 
Mr. Sturgis, however, was one of the few who did entertain 
them; and it is needless to add, that he therefore fearlessly 
expressed them. 

After the termination of the trial of the commander, for 
the alleged murder of these men, by a naval court-martial, in 
which, by a majority of three fourths of the members, the 
charges were " found not to be proven," and after the publica- 
tion of the evidence and the finding of the Court, and of the 
article alluded to in the " North- American Review," Mr. 
Sturgis published, as we have before stated, under his 
signature, two articles, headed "The Somers Mutiny," and 
" The Somers Mutiny, No. 2 " ; which may be found in the 
" Semi weekly Courier" of August 7, 1843. 

Great as was the confidence which his nautical experience. 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 35 

cool judgment, and known honesty and independence of 
thought, could not but extensively inspire, still no one could 
have been prepared for the critical ability, literary skill, legal 
acumen, and eloquence, exhibited in these papers. 

The first was occupied, in part, by a consideration of the 
existence and probable causes of the wide-spread popular 
opinion in favor of Commander Mackenzie, but was mainly 
devoted to a masterly, vigorous, and comprehensive reply to 
the article in the "North-American Review." The second con- 
tained a careful analysis and most able discussion of the evi- 
dence, in which he maintained, " that the occurrences on 
board the ' Somers,' after the arrest of Spencer, ought not to 
have induced any cool, judicious commander, exercising an or- 
dinary degree of judgment and discretion, to have thought it 
necessary to put Spencer, C^'omwell, and Small to death for the 
safety of the ' Somers ' and the security of the officers and 
crew ;" and it closed in terms of unequivocal and very strong 
condemnation of Commander Mackenzie, " not only for what 
took place on board the ' Somers,' but likewise for his per- 
severing efforts, in his official narrative, on his trial, and in his 
published defence, to blast the reputation of the living, and 
render odious the memory of the dead." 

The following pathetic appeal may take rank with the best 
specimens of modern eloquence : — 

" It might have been thought necessaiy, for the vindication of 
Commander Mackenzie upon his trial, that all the offences alleged to 
have been committed by young Spencer on board the ' Somers ' 
should be fully set forth. But what possible good can now result from 
gathering and recording every doubtful anecdote of his boyish life ? 
The reviewer does not give his authority for the stories he relates. 
They may or may not be true. But, whether true or false, they are, 
in my opinion, out of place upon the pages of the ' North- American 
Review.' Let the dead rest. No deed of violence had been done by 
the accused. The only charge against him is the intention to commit 
a crime. And, were the charge true, surely a horrid death, under the 
most aggravating circumstances, suddenly announced to him, with 



36 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

notice that ten minutes would be allowed him for preparation, — ten 
minutes ! — in that fearful hour, for a child to pour forth to his 
parents the agony of his soul ; to express contrition ; to explain all 
that might palliate his ofFences ; to entreat their forgiveness, and to 
invoke, as he did invoke, blessings on their heads ! — ten minutes for 
life's closing scene, — to make his peace on earth, and prepare to stand 
before the judgment-seat of God! — surely, surely, such a death 
might expiate crime actually committed : let it atone for the intention 
only to commit one, and let the dead rest. Spare the living too. If 
the political eminence of the father must place him beyond the pale of 
humanity, and leave him exposed to these attacks, be tender with the 
mother ; respect her grief. She now finds consolation for her ago- 
nized feelings in the firm belief that her son died innocent. Is it 
generous, is it just, needlessly to shake her belief, take from her this 
consolation, and add a keener pang to the anguish of a mother's 
heart ? Sure I am, that only the want of due consideration could 
have led the amiable and high-minded writer of the Review to follow 
in the track of thoughtless newspaper-scribblers or venomous party 
politicians, and by giving currency to idle gossip, or something worse, 
heap obloquy upon the memory of the defenceless dead, and wound 
afresh the lacerated and quivering feelings of the living." 

These papers produced a great change in public sentiment 
throughout this part of the country, the minds of many hav- 
ing been previously uninformed of the precise facts, and of 
the course of reasoning relied upon in justification of Com- 
mander Mackenzie, most of which, indeed, could be fully 
known only after the publication of the trial. 

They should be preserved in some permanent form, not 
merely as specimens of the masterly ability and independence 
of the writer, but as the proper counterpart of the celebrated 
article referred to, that it may not " pass down to future 
inquirers as the [oiily] contemporary expression " of the 
public opinion of the day ; the subject being, as Mr. Sturgis 
in his introduction says, one which " affects in no slight 
degree the reputation of the navy, the character of the 
country, the sacred cause of justice, and the holy rights of 
humanity." 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 37 

But a still more important and signal service was rendered 
to his country by Mr. Sturgis, upon the breaking-out of the 
controversy between England and the United States, in 
the year 1844, concerning the Oregon Territory; which con- 
troversy the political partisans on both sides of the water, 
in equal utter ignorance of the position and extent of the 
country and of its history, and of the various rights of other 
nations upon its coasts, were ready to inflame into open 
war. 

Here, again, his personal familiarity with the topography of 
the Coast, with the course of trade on its various rivers, and 
with the extent to which it had been resorted to and occupied 
by foreign nations, and particularly by Spain, England, and the 
United States, qualified him in a very peculiar degree, if not 
exclusively, as far as an individual could be qualified, for the 
formation of an impartial judgment, and for enlightening 
others upon the subject ; and he proved himself as well 
adapted to the task intellectually and morally, as he was by 
this peculiar knowledge. 

He prepared an elaborate treatise upon the subject, which 
he afterwards delivered as a Lecture before the Association 
above mentioned, in January, 1845, the substance of which 
was soon afterwards printed as a pamphlet. 

The matter w^as one of great perplexity and seeming con- 
fusion, owing to the miscellaneous claims, made by Russia, 
England, Spain, and the United States, of prior discoveries, 
and of the use and occupation of various portions of this vast 
wilderness, — bounded on the east by the Rocky Mountains, on 
the west by the Pacific Ocean, with its numerous indentations, 
bays, sounds, inlets, capes, and islands, and extending from the 
forty-second degree of north latitude to that of 54' 40'; — and 
constituting an area of seven hundred and sixty miles in length 
from north to south, and of about five hundred from east to 
west, with large rivers extending far into and draining the 
interior. 



38 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

No one, remembering the agitation of this question at that 
time, can be forgetful of the insensate cry of " Fifty-four 
forty, or fight ! " which was so flippantly and recklessly ut- 
tered by the party politicians of the day, in equal ignorance and 
disregard of the truth and the right of the case ; or can for- 
get the deep apprehension of a closely impending war, felt 
by the friends of peace on both sides of the Atlantic. 

In this treatise, Mr. Sturgis, after an exhausting exhibition 
of the material facts of the case, and a setting-forth of the re- 
spective claims and pretensions of the parties interested with 
great clearness and judicial impartiality, arrived at the follow- 
ing result : — 

" Some of the objections made by the British commissioners to our 
claims to the exclusive possession of the Avhole territory cannot be 
easily and satisfactorily answered ; and some of their objections are 
unfounded or frivolous, — the mere skirmishing of diplomacy, and un- 
worthy of high-minded diplomatists : but it must, I think, be evident, 
to any one who looks carefully into the whole matter, that sojne of the 
pretensions of each party are, to say the least, plausible ; and that, 
according to the rules established among civilized nations in similar 
cases, each has some rights, which should be adjusted and settled by 
compromise and mutual concession." 

* He then entered upon a discussion of the various interests 
which each party might be supposed to have in the possession 
of these territories, and concluded by recommending the 
adoption of the line substantially established by the subse- 
quent treaty, but defined it in much more precise and clear 
terms, which, if they had been copied, would have prevented 
the possibility of misapprehension, and have saved the two 
countries from the unhappy San-Juan controversy, which 
still rankles as a thorn to disturb their friendly relations. 

The line, as described in the treaty, is in these words : " From 
the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, where 
the boundary laid down in existing treaties and conventions 
between the United States and Great Britain terminates, the 



.MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 39 

line of boundary between the territory of the United States 
and those of her Britannic Majesty shall be continued west- 
ward along the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the 
middle of the channel which separates the continent from 
Vancouver's Island, and thence southerly through the middle 
of said channel and Fuca's Straits to the Pacific Ocean." 

The line proposed by Mr. Sturgis was as follows : " A con- 
tinuation of the parallel of forty-nine degrees across the Rocky 
Mountains to tide-water, say to the middle of the Gulf of 
Georgia ; thence by the northernmost navigable passage (not 
north of forty-nine degrees) to the Straits of Juan de Fuca, 
and down the middle of these straits to the Pacific Ocean ; the 
navigation of the Gulf of Georgia and the Straits of Juan 
de Fuca to be for ever free to both parties ; all the islands and 
other territory lying south and east of this line to belong to the 
United States, and all nortli and west to Great Britain." 

It will be perceived that the insertion of the words here 
Italicized would have rendered the definition of the navi- 
gable pasg&ge intended, and of the territories intended to be 
separated by it, too plain to admit of controversy. 

This pamphlet was not only widely circulated among the 
ministers and statesmen at Washington, but also among those 
in England, where it met with almost universal approbation 
for its intelligence and candor. 

The writer of this Memoir feels perfectly justified, by the 
evidence in his possession, in asserting that the settlement of 
this dangerous controversy, by the line adopted, was mainly, 
if not entirely, owing to this efibrt of Mr. Sturgis, and the 
use made of it by the friends of peace in both countries. 

It must be a rare fortune for any private individual, hold- 
ing no official station, and in no immediate connection with 
the statesmen conducting the foreign relations of his country, 
to be thus instrumental in the final solution of two great 
national controversies, which, but for his efforts, might have 
terminated in disastrous wars. 



40 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

Both of these adjustments are monuments of his intellec- 
tual ability and literary accomplishments, and call for a grate- 
ful national remembrance ; but that of the Oregon Question 
evinces the breadth of view also, and the rare magnanimity, 
which enabled him justly to appreciate and honestly to vindi- 
cate the claims of the adversary of his country, while firmly 
maintaining hers. 

To these qualities, signally manifested in this pamphlet, 
may probably be attributed, in a great measure, its success in 
moderating the views of his own countrymen, and winning the 
confidence of the English rulers and people. 

The three " Lectures " upon the trade of the North-west 
Coast and the characters and manners of the Indian tribes, the 
article in the '' North- American Review" upon the claims of 
the Russian Government to that region of the American con- 
tinent, and this discussion of the question in controversy be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States concerning the Ore- 
gon Territory, are the most extensive, authentic, and valuable 
contributions to the earlier history of that part of the world 
which have hitherto been made, and probably leave very little 
for future gleaners. It is to be hoped that they will be em- 
bodied in a volume for permanent preservation, as they would 
constitute one without which no collection of books upon the 
subject of America, and no historical library, could be account- 
ed complete ; and to them, for the reasons above suggested, 
should be added the papers on the " Somers Mutiny." 

Such is the brief, simple narrative of the principal events 
in the life of this extraordinary man. They sufficiently, per- 
haps, proclaim the intellectual strength and moral elevation 
which were the most conspicuous features of his char- 
acter. His whole nurture, indeed, seemed fitted for the 
cultivation of the sterner virtues almost exclusively. His 
childhood and early boyhood passed upon a little sterile farm, 
the labors of which devolved principally upon him, with no 
room for mental expansion beyond the occasional privileges 



MEMOIR OF wrLLIAM STURGIS. 41 

of a village school ; his youth and early manhood spent on 
shipboard, in the rough companionship of the forecastle and 
the steerage, or in the lonely watches of despotic authority 
upon the quarter-deck, — breasting the tempests of the open 
sea, or the more harassing perils of coastwise navigation upon 
wild and inhospitable shores; his introduction to business 
life in traffic with the savage inhabitants of the Coast ; 
and his almost total seclusion, in most of the forming period 
of life, from the opportunities of mental and spiritual culture, 
and the influences of a refined civilization, — might well have 
seemed calculated for the growth only of the heroic courage, 
indomitable energy, self-reliance, and ability to command, by 
which he was among all men pre-eminently distinguished. 
To the general observer, his quickness of perception, clear- 
ness of judgment, stern love of justice, fearless independence, 
promptitude of decision, and dauntless resolution, — constitut- 
ing a character of rare strength, — might often overshadow 
its gentler traits, and sometimes might obscure these even 
from his own consciousness. But there was a native urbani- 
ty, a depth of affection, a readiness of sympathy, a generosity, 
a refined nobleness of nature, manifest to those whom he 
loved, or to whom friendship or any just claim gave op- 
portunity for the exercise of them ; and these were exhi- 
bited no less in his intercourse with the wild Indians upon 
tlie far-off savage coast, than at the domestic hearth or in the 
social circles of civilized life. And to these were added a love 
of letters, a ready wit, a sense of honor, and an appreciation 
of the courtesies and amenities of cultivated life, which might 
seem hard to be accounted for under such rough training, 
except in the natural structure of his mind and heart, — as I 

steel of the hardest temper takes the finest polish. No one, 
who knew him, ever doubted, that at all times and under any 
circumstances, he would " dare do all that may become a 
man " ; and no one probably ever lived more uniformly faithful 
than he to the conviction, that " who dares do more is none." 

6 



42 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

In turning to contemplate the character of Mr. Sturgis in 
private life, we might naturally anticipate some diversity of 
opinion ; as it is not possible for a man of faculties so various 
and acute, and of such abounding energy, to produce on all 
minds similar and harmonious impressions. His rapidity of 
decision, strength of will, and entire independence in the 
expression of his convictions, would, of necessity, at times 
awaken a spirit of opposition, and sometimes, perhaps, excite 
irritation ; although in his later days certainly, and throughout 
his life so far as opportunity for observation on the part of 
the writer of this Memoir extended, his convictions were al- 
ways uttered with an urbanity, and a graceful disclaimer of any 
want of deference to those of others who might diifer from him, 
that entirely disarmed the hearers of any suspicion of arro- 
gance or overweening confidence on his part. His early life 
passed in necessarily entire reliance upon his own resources 
and judgment in the most exciting, perilous, and responsible 
duties, could not but have imbued him with some corre- 
sponding degree of self-confidence, and may occasionally have 
rendered him less accessible to conviction in matters of pre- 
conceived opinion, than persons of inferior force of character. 
But it would be a great injustice to his memory, for one fami- 
liarly versed in his habits of conversation and discussion, 
whether upon matters of business, or of speculation only, 
not to bear witness to the courtesy and candor with which 
his side of the question was uniformly maintained, and to 
his readiness to yield to the stronger reason ; while instances 
will recur to the minds of his friends, in which, although 
not at first convinced, he would afterwards seek to make 
known a change of opinion consequent upon further reflec- ■ 
tion. 

It may be, that many accounted him stern, who saw him only 
occasionally, or when he was called upon to express opinions 
concerning the management of public or private affairs, or the 
policy that had been or should be pursued concerning them. 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 43 

He certainly was stern in his hatred and denunciation of all 
falsehood, equivocation, and pretence, under any and all cir- 
cumstances ; and he had, perhaps, less indulgence or con- 
sideration than most men for the weakness by which so many 
are led into conduct and situations wanting in nothing of fraud 
and criminality but the originating will. Perhaps, too, he 
had less consideration for the imbecility of purpose, by rea- 
son of which multitudes so often, more or less voluntarily, 
become dependent upon charity or pecuniary aid. These 
were natural consequences of his own peculiar habit of self- 
reliance, and the hard discipline of self-denying economy, 
severe labor, and unremitting effort, by which he had sur- 
mounted the diflSculties of early life while dependent solely 
upon his own exertions, and had without help attained to the 
highest objects of his aspiration. Further : his own reflection 
and observation had satisfied him, that the promiscuous giving 
of alms was productive of far more evil than good ; and to 
yield to importunity in begging would have been in him a 
weakness instead of a virtue. 

He rarely, therefore, gave to street mendicants, or in re- 
sponse to the numerous calls made by individuals for pecu- 
niary aid. And this has led to the belief, more or less 
extensive, that he was wanting in liberality. But, without 
claiming for him a pre-eminent spirit of philanthropy, or any 
unusual degree of impulsive generosity, justice now demands 
a reference to munificent gifts made by him, which, in his 
lifetime, he took studious pains to conceal. 

A short time before his death, he gave to the Observatory 
in Cambridge the sum of ten thousand dollars, having before 
made to it several valuable donations. Upon application to 
become one of several to contribute for the payment of the 
balance of the debt of this Society, incurred in the purchase 
of its Hall, he promptly gave the whole sum required. Many 
instances might be adduced in which he gave large amounts 
for public charities and for private relief; usually, how- 



44 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

ever, accompanied with strict injunctions of secrecy. A 
singular illustration of the misconception that may prevail 
upon such a subject occurred soon after his decease. A gen- 
tleman, who supposed himself well acquainted with Mr. 
Sturgis, in speaking of him to another friend, remarked, that 
it was to be regretted that " he was so close, and always 
so unwilling to give." To which the person addressed replied: 
" I do not know how that may be in comparing him with 
others ; but I do know, that, within a short space of time, he 
has, given ten thousand dollars to one institution and two sums 
of one thousand dollars each to two other charitable purposes ; 
and that he recently contributed five hundred dollars for 
raising one of our regiments." The gentleman felt reproved, 
but made no reply. He soon afterwards returned to apologize 
to the living and the dead for his remark; saying, " Since I left 
you, I have heard of two other recent instances of like liberal, 
but secret, donations." It is known to a few only, that he 
appropriated an ample fund of twenty thousand dollars for a 
public benefaction, to which an allusion only can now be made. 
This is held by trustees selected by himself to effect his 
object ; which will be an enduring monument not only of 
generosity, but of the most considerate wisdom and human- 
ity. Few men probably, of equally extensive munificence, 
take equal pains that the left hand shall not know what the 
right hand is doing. 

Nor was this liberality confined to the relief of suffering, 
and the promotion of science and art. Mr. Sturgis was equally 
ready to lay portions of his wealth upon the altar of sentiment, 
and of reverence for the honored dead. 

When, in the year 1834, the philosopher and philanthro- 
pist, Spurzheim, died in this city, where his lectures ex- 
cited a deep and extensive interest, and gave an impulse to 
thought upon mental, moral, and physical development, — 
the fruits of which have been ever since abundantly apparent 
in our pulpits, lecture-room?, and schools, — his remains were 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 45 

deposited with public honors at Mount Auburn ; and Mr. 
Sturgis, who had listened to his teachings, soon afterwards 
erected, at the cost of a thousand dollars from his own purse, 
the beautiful monument which marks the place where rest 
the remains of the beloved and honored stranger ; in testi- 
mony, to use his own words, of " respect for the memory of 
one, whose clear, comprehensive, and elevated view of the 
nature of man marked him as the sound philosopher ; and 
whose unwearied efforts to promote human happiness, by 
physical, intellectual, and moral culture, placed him in the 
foremost rank of the philanthropist of the age." 

Instances might be adduced of his peculiar promptitude of 
decision and action in emergencies of peril; but the enumer- 
ation would be superfluous, as his character has been already 
sufficiently shown to leave no question of it under any cir- 
cumstances. 

With his abounding energy was mingled a magnanimity 
and kindliness of feeling, which made him ever ready to 
strengthen or aid others to whom his interposition might be 
useful. The following note from Theodore Parker will show 
to what extent an impromptu act of kindness may be service- 
able, and in what manner it must have been rendered, to be 
so long and so gratefully remembered : — 

" Boston, Nov. 30, 1855. 
" William Sturgis, Esq. 

" Dear Sir, — Fourteen years ago this month, I delivered a course 

of lectures on matters pertaining to religion in Boston. A few minutes 

before I began to speak, while I felt such agonies of embarrassment 

and fear as I hope never to knoAv again, you came and sat down 

beside me, and- strengthened me. I have been thankful ever since ; 

and now beg you to accept the volume which accompanies this note, 

with the grateful regards of 

" Yours truly, 

" Theodore Parker." 

The act and the acknowledgment are equally honorable 
to both parties. When will the woild learn that kindness and 



46 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

sympathy are, beyond all others, the most powerful levers 
with which to move the human heart? 

On another occasion, at an assemblage to listen to an ad- 
dress from Mr. Wendell Phillips, some disturbance arose from 
efforts made to prevent his being permitted to speak. Mr. 
Sturgis, who was present, although he was probably as deci- 
dedly opposed to the orator's peculiar sentiments as any 
person in the room, immediately stepped forward upon the 
platform, and, appealing to the sense of propriety and the 
self-respect of the audience, and at the same time vindicating 
the right of free speech, secured the meeting from further 
interruption. 

As an instance of the firmness of resolution which was so 
marked a feature of his character, it is worth relating, that, 
during his voyages at sea, he became greatly addicted to 
smoking, insomuch that he was scarcely ever without a cigar 
in his mouth in his waking hours. One evening, while pacing 
the quarter-deck with this solace of his lonely watches in 
his lips, the strength which this habit had acquired, as mani- 
fested in the extent to which it had reached, suddenly 
occurred to him; and, after pausing a few moments, he de- 
posited the cigar upon the taffrail, saying to himself, '' I will 
not take another until I change my mind " : and he never 
smoked another in his life, except during the battle with 
the Chinese pirates above described ; at the commencement 
of which he called for his cigars, to the enjoyment of which 
the circumstances doubtless gave a peculiar zest. 

A similar instance is found in his total abstinence from wine ; 
in the moderate use of which, in company with his friends, he 
took great pleasure ; but, being satisfied that it had a ten- 
dency to cause or aggravate a disease to which he was liable, 
he abstained entirely from it. Of spirituous liquors he never 
drank a glass in his life, being, as he said, so deeply im- 
pressed with the evils of intoxication, that he early resolved 
never to drink one ; and he never did. 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 47 

No man was more faithful to the dictates of disinterested 
friendship. Nor did his affectionate service terminate with 
the lives of his friends; but it became the inheritance of 
their families, in deeds of kind attention and assistance ren- 
dered wherever acceptable. Nor did it cease even with his 
own life, but was renewed and prolonged in testamentary be- 
quests. Allusions to particular instances would be an offence 
to him, whose affectionate consideration of others was ex- 
celled only by his sensitive and scrupulous delicacy. One 
instance, however, may not inappropriately be alluded to, as 
illustrating this fidelity in the rendering of service, and test- 
ing its genuineness far more than the bestowment of money 
could have done. It is this, that, for a period of about thirty 
years, he took entire charge of the very large estate of a 
personal friend, absorbing equal time and labor with the care 
of his own, upon the condition of never being asked to 
receive compensation. 

As to his personal habits, Mr. Sturgis lived in almost Spar- 
tan simplicity, although liberal to his family in bestowments 
upon his children, and in supplying generously all that con- 
stitutes the comfort and substantial luxury of a well-ordered 
household. His dress was always simple and unpretending ; 
his furniture and equipage entirely without ostentation or 
superfluity; nothing being expended upon works of art and 
the elaborate adornments in which so many find great and 
reasonable pleasure. These he held in very light esteem. 
Although endowed with a keen sensibility to the beauties of 
nature, as his writings abundantly testify, he appeared to be 
singularly deficient in taste for art, always disclaiming the 
capacity to derive pleasure from it. 

No pictures adorned his walls, and no sculpture found 
niches in his house. It seems difficult to account for this 
inaptitude to enjoy that which by many is justly accounted 
one of the choicest privileges of cultivated life. The only 
solution which suggests itself is to be found in the habits ac- 



48 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

quired in the sevei'e simplicity of bis early days, and in the 
self-denying economy which he was compelled to practise ; 
limiting his expenditures to the absolute necessaries of life, 
and discarding every indulgence in what seemed a super- 
fluity, or might interrupt bis progress to the stations to 
which he aspired. Perhaps tbis misfortune, as many may 
deem it, was in part owing to the entire want of any oppor- 
tunity for acquiring the rudiments of taste in art at the 
period of life when the faculties and feelings are most sus- 
ceptible to its influence. 

One of the peculiar traits of his social character was a 
ready wit, a faculty of repartee and badinage very rarely 
excelled, and indeed not often equalled. But it was always 
entirely under his control, and was never suffered to transcend 
the bounds of a courteous urbanity, or of innocent amusement. 
Indeed, it was not unfrequently the happiest means of con- 
veying an expression of his affection and regard for his 
friends ; and occasionally it found vent in versification, indi- 
cating great readiness and felicity in such use of his pen. 
Nor did he shrink from the practical consequences of his 
merriment, if turned to account against him. 

An amusing instance of his humor and readiness occurred 
while be was in the legislature. In an animated debate, a 
friend, whom he highly esteemed, ornamented an able argu- 
ment, on the side to which Mr. Sturgis was opposed, with 
somewhat numerous quotations in Latin and Greek. As soon 
as he sat down, Mr. Sturgis arose, and remarked, " that he had 
been much impressed with the very able argument to which 
he had listened, and especially with the learned citations with 
which it had been adorned, and which, he did not doubt, were 
most apposite and illustrative, but which he, and, as he be- 
lieved, a large majority of those to whom they were addressed, 
did not comprehend, not having been taught the languages in 
which they were uttered ; that he was not willing, however, 
that his friend should carry off all the literary honors of the 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 49 

occasion, nor alone have the benefit of producing conviction 
by speaking in an unknown tongue ; " and, in conclusion, he 
repeated several sentences in the Indian language of the 
North-west Coast, affirming '' that they were as much to the 
point, and doubtless as intelligible and convincing to most of 
those present, as had been the quotations in Latin and Greek 
with which the gentleman had favored them." 

In commercial transactions and all matters of contract, 
Mr. Sturgis ever acted upon the highest principles of mercan- 
tile integrity. His extensive knowledge, quick perception, 
and understanding of human nature, gave him decided advan- 
tages over most men ; but such was the legitimate and honor- 
able use he made of them in negotiation, that no suspicion of 
his want of entire good faith was ever excited. Probably no 
man ever lived in our community in Avhose integrity, or in 
whose bare word, more implicit faith was reposed. 

He had very large sums always invested in loans and 
personal securities; but he never took more than the legal 
rate of interest. In conversation, not long before his decease, 
he said to a friend : '' I have never taken more than six per 
cent, for the money I have lent ; and you may think this a 
little inconsistent, when I tell you, that, if it were a question 
of merchandise or stocks, I might make the very best bargain 
I could, and use in a proper way any knowledge I might 
have, which I had a right to, to give me the advantage. 
It is not my habit, my taste, if you please ; and," he added, 
" I always remember a remark which old Mr. Astor once made 
to me, that the practice of taking usurious interest ' narrered 
the mind and 'ardened the 'art.' " 

His judgment upon all matters of investment was greatly 
prized and sought for, and always freely and cheerfully given, 
whatever might be his personal interests, — with the frank dis- 
closure, however, of any that might be supposed to influence 
his opinion. 

His extensive and familiar knowledge of all branches of 

7 



50 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

trade and manufactures, and of the intrinsic values of estates 
Teal and personal, caused him to be much sought for as pre- 
sident or director in many of the larger and more important 
incorporated institutions ; the duties of which offices he 
performed with exemplary disinterestedness, punctuality, and 
fidelity. 

The strength of the domestic affections in Mr. Sturgis was 
in correspondence with the other elements of his character. 
His love for his children and grandchildren was tender and 
intense, and was his chief source of daily interest and 
happiness, particularly in the later period of his life. He 
imparted -to them liberally of his large fortune, and culti- 
vated with them the habit of constant and cheerful inter- 
course ; making his departure to be felt by them as the loss 
not only of a natural protector, but also of a familiar compan- 
ion and confiding friend. 

The depth of his parental attachment was manifested on 
the death of his son, — a youth of remarkable promise, both 
intellectual and moral, standing at the head of his class in 
the University, and equally conspicuous for every manly 
grace and virtue. He was suddenly killed, at the age of 
sixteen years, by a blow from the boom of a vessel, w^hile 
he was on a sailing excursion. His father never recovered 
from this grief. He had naturally placed the fondest hopes 
in this only son, who had already become a proud ornament 
of his advancing age ; who seemed possessed of every faculty 
and virtue which the fondest and most judicious parent could 
desire ; and to whom he looked for the transmission of his 
name and reputation with increasing honor. 

It was his first great grief; and its shadow darkened the 
whole remainder of his life. At first, the intensity of his 
agony was such, that no mention of the young man's name, or 
allusion to the event, was ever made ; every one feeling, 
that, though not prohibited, the allusion w^ould be but a fresh 
excitement of an uncontrollable sorrow with whicli the father 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 51 

was struggling. In his strong nature, he sought no sympa- 
thy, preferring to suffer in the solitude of his own soul ; or 
he dared not trust himself to converse on the subject, lest it 
might betray him into a weakness to Avhich he would not 
yield ; or he felt, perhaps, that his loss was so profound and 
unutterable as to be beyond relief. This was indeed a sad 
mistake, in which, however, he continued for many years ; and 
it was not until he was far advanced in life, that he could bear 
any allusion to this sorrow. But the " sable cloud " gradually 
"turned forth her silver lining on the night," — in the sub- 
dued intensity of his character ; the increasing tenderness of 
his affections ; the touching sensibilit}^ which he manifested 
when a parental grief befell any one, however unknown, or 
otherwise a stranger to his heart; and in his manifestations 
of interest in the friends of his beloved boy. He became 
conscious of his error ; and, in a letter of condolence to a 
friend in affliction, long after his son's death, he expressed his 
regret that he had thus yielded to his first impulses; and coun- 
selled free interchange of thought and feeling, as the natural, 
and among the most effectual, means of relief. 

About twenty years before his death, his love of his family 
and his taste for the simplicity and surroundings of rural life, 
led him to establish a home in the country during the summer 
and autumn, where he could gather around him all his chil- 
dren and their families. For this purpose, he selected a 
spacious and commodious house, originally constructed for a 
summer hotel, on the border of Horn Pond, — one of the most 
beautiful and romantic of the many beautiful lakes with which 
New England abounds ; and here they passed together many 
delightful seasons in the most unrestrained enjoyment of 
affectionate and confiding family intercourse, of a generous 
hospitalit}^, and of all the simple luxuries Avhich country life 
affords and country life alone can supply. 

One side of the lake was bordered by very steep hills, 
rising abruptly, and covered with deep Avoods. He was 



52 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STUEGIS. 

wont in the evening to take liis boat alone^^under the deep 
shadows of this shore, and remain there until quite late ; 
where the solitude, evening grandeur, and utter stillness of 
the scene, brought back to him, as he said, his early years 
on the North-Avest Coast. 

He indulged his grandchildren in the most unrestrained 
liberty of familiar affection ; and many hours, of the deepest 
interest to their parents and any visitors in the circle, as well 
as to the little ones, they passed in his company ; when, 
after frolicking with them in their childish games, he would 
yield to their solicitations for some stories about the Indians 
and the North-west Coast. Such narratives, beginning in the 
twilight on the piazza, were sometimes protracted into late 
evening, being enlivened with illustrations of the opinions or 
religious character of some Indian like Kilchart, until the 
listeners came to feel towards him as warm a personal friend- 
ship as did the narrator. To use the words of one who was 
familiar with his daily life there, " Those who then visited 
Horn Pond will not easily forget, either the natural beauty of 
the lake, with the densely wooded mountain rising beyond it, 
or the images of those who dwelt there, and who have since 
passed from this earth ; who were so full of life and joy and 
radiance, and who entered so largely into the daily happiness 
of him who has just gone to meet them. There was in their 
character a loyalty, a straightforward truthfulness, a depth of 
affection, and a nobleness of nature, that were evidently he- 
reditary." 

The death, thus alluded to, of two of his beloved daughters, 
so changed the scene of such hitherto undisturbed and unal- 
loyed happiness, and the effects of it Avere so great upon his 
heart, that the associations and the contrast became too pain- 
ful ; and this patriarchal summer home w^as, not long after- 
wards, relinquished. 

Mr. Sturgis would probably not be accounted a religious 
man by those whose faitli demands the nurture of a prescribed 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 53 

ritual or of stated observances ; or by those whose piety 
leads to a self-denying asceticism, as a means of propitiating 
an offended God ; or by those who base their trust upon the 
intellectual belief of a particular scheme of salvation ; or by 
those whose idea of the whole duty and destination of man 
is his exclusive culture and exercise of the devotional senti- 
ments, regardless of the development of the other elements 
of his nature. But, if an entire conviction of the existence 
and attributes of God — as the Author and Supreme Gover- 
nor of the universe ; as a Ruler of infinite power, justice, 
and love ; and as having designed his children for ultimate 
happiness hereafter, to be attained by means of the discipline 
of life, and by conscientious obedience to his will as revealed 
in his works, in the nature of the human soul, and in the inspi- 
rations of the teachers whom he has sent in all ages to en- 
lighten them — if this entitle any man to the appellation of 
religious, it may be justly claimed for him. It is certain, how- 
ever, that he made no especial pretensions to that character ; 
and he would have infinitely preferred to be classed among the 
unbelieving, rather than to be guilty of the hypocrisy, or the 
blasphemy, of professing a faith that he did not sincerely en- 
tertain. His views of God were, that he is a beneficent Parent, 
who makes all things work together for good; and of death, 
that it is but an exchange of worlds, alike for the departing and 
for those soon to follow ; and these views were beautifully 
illustrated in the following bequest in his will to one who was, 
^otherwise than by the incident referred to, almost unknown to 
him : '' I give and bequeath to the Rev. John H. Morison, of 
Milton, the sum of five hundred dollars, as a mark of my esteem 
and respect, and approval of the manner in which he led the' 
services at the funeral of my late friend, W, W. Swain, at 
New Bedford. The cheerful and bright views of the change 
which we call death, that ho expressed on that occasion, 
are altogether in accordance with my own long-cherished 
sentiments." 



54 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

The personal appearance of Mr. Sturgis was very im- 
pressive. Although of rather low stature, his square frame, 
upright posture, and whole movement, indicated great 
muscular strength and energy. His head, rather closely set 
upon the shoulders, was large ; his forehead, broad and 
high ; his eyes were of dark blue, overhung by peculiarly 
heavy brows ; his nose was aquiline ; and his mouth, when 
closed, strongly indicative of firmness and resolution. His 
countenance, when composed, was grave and full of expres- 
sion, — a clear index of the dignity and energy by which 
he was ever distinguished ; but, when lighted up by the 
tenderness of affection or the joyousness of spirit in which 
he abounded, or by the animation of conversation, it became 
singularly beaming with his emotions ; giving to their utter- 
ance a gentleness, strength, or vivacity, never to be forgotten 
by those who enjoyed the privilege of familiar converse with 
him. It is greatly to be lamented by his friends and descend- 
ants, that an extreme aversion to having his portrait taken, or 
any representation made of him by which his personal ap- 
pearance could be perpetuated, has deprived them of the 
treasure which a suitable likeness would have been. 

The writer of this Memoir lays down his pen with regret. 
It has been to him a grateful occupation to dwell upon the 
character and remembered traits of one whose friendship, 
although acquired in the "sear and yellow leaf" of old age, 
had shed many refreshing influences, which he had hoped 
still longer to enjoy. No one can be so sensible as himself 
of the imperfect manner in which his pleasing duty has been 
performed ; nor could any one have been more gratified, had 
he been enabled to lay a more fitting tribute upon the grave 
of one so much respected and beloved. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



I. 

At a special meeting of the President and Directors of the 
Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, consist- 
ing of the following members, George W. Lyman, President, 
and William Amory, Edward Austin, Francis Bacon, J. Inger- 
soll Bowditch, James M. Beebe, J. Wiley Edmands, George 
H. Kuhn, Amos A. Lawrence, Charles G. Loring, Francis C. 
Lowell, John A. Lowell, George R. Minot, and Ignatius Sar- 
gent, on the twenty-third day of October, 1863, the following- 
resolutions were unanimously adopted : — 

Besolved, That, in the death of the Hon. William Sturgis, we 
mourn the departure of one of the honored founders of this Institu- 
tion ; of an officer, who, in continuous service from its original 
establishment, has been devotedly faithful and zealous in the man- 
agement of its affairs ; and to whose sagacity, knowledge, elevated 
principles, and financial skill, it is in a great measure indebted for its 
extensive usefulness, and the wide-spread confidence which it enjoys. 

Resolved, That we shall ever hold in precious remembrance the 
inspiring vivacity and urbanity, the acute sense of justice, the lofty 
honor, and eminent ability, by which he was ever characterized in the 
discussions and social intercourse of the Board, — causing his depart- 
ure to be profoundly lamented, as that alike of the honored officer 
and adviser, and of the respected and beloved associate and friend. 

Resolved, That, in the death of this honored and eminent man, we 
are mindful of his claims upon the respect and gratitude of his fellow- 

8 



58 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

citizens foi' the great share which he has contribvited to the mercantile 
prosperity and glory of the Commonwealth, by a long life of faithful 
and successful service in the promotion of her mercantile and manu- 
facturing interests, pre-eminently characterized by vigorous enter- 
prise at sea and on shore ; by far-reaching sagacity and extensive 
knowledge ; and by a high sense of honor and unswerving fidelity, 
united with untiring energy and perseverance, — entitling him to stand 
in the foremost rank of those who have established and maintained 
her commercial reputation at home and abi'oad. 

Resolved, That a copy of these Proceedings be transmitted to the 
family of the deceased, with au assurance of the sympathy of this 
Board in their bereavement. 



II. 

The Standing Committee of the Cape-Cod Association held 
a special meeting on Saturday, the twenty- fourth da}^ of 
October, 1863, at eleven o'clock, a.m. The President of the 
Association, on taking the chair, said, — 

This special meeting is called for the melancholy purpose of 
announcing to you the death of our venerable and highly esteemed 
Vice-President, the Hon. AVilliam Sturgis. 

In my official duty, gentlemen, I can hardly do more than commu- 
nicate to you this sad event, and leave it to your sympathy and judg- 
ment to propose the form of tribute most suitable to the occasion. 

A record of Mr. Sturgis is, I am sure, broadly written in the heart 
of each member of this meeting, and each page is eulogy. Known 
to many of us for nearly half a century, his high qualities are deeply 
engraved on our minds, and cannot be easily erased. His honorable 
bearing, his cool judgment, and his considerate action under ditlicul- 
ties, stamped him as an uncommon man ; and his extensive knowledge, 
and his judicious inferences from it, made him a useful one. He was 
consulted and prized by his associates, respected by the community, 
and honored by all. 

Mr. Sturgis, as you well know, was a native of the I'ilgrim Cape ; 
and the right arm of the Commonwealth, our good old Cape Cod, 
must ever venerate and lament him. He was true to them in all 



APPENDIX. 69 

things. He made their interests his OAvn, and his head and his purse 
were responsive to their wishes. 

To this Association his loss is great. Mr. Sturgis was one of its 
founders, and its largest pecuniary benefactor. The doings of the 
Society had his sanction and support ; and under his encouragement 
it has prospered. He has now gone to add to the galaxy of our 
departed and distinguished officers and friends, — himself a bright 
star among them, — and leaves a void in our organization not easy to 
be filled. 

The Rev. Dr. Lothrop, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Thacher 
were appointed a Committee to draft a series of resolutions, 
expressive of the feelings of the Association on the death 
of Mr. Sturgis, and reported the following, which were 
unanimously adopted: — 

It having pleased Almighty God, our heavenly Father, to remove 
by death the Hon. William Sturgis, one of the Vice-Presidents 
of this Association, we desire to put upon our Records an expres- 
sion of our feelings and of our judgment of his character, by the adop- 
tion of the following resolutions : — 

Resolved, That, as members of the Cape-Cod Association, we receive with deep 
regret the intelligence of the death of our distinguished associate, the Hon. 
William Sturgis ; and, while we bow in devout submission to the divine will, — 
grateful that a life so useful and honorable was so prolonged, — we lament that 
another endeared name has been stricken from the roll of our oflBcers and mem- 
bers ; and that we are deprived of the sj'mpathy and fellowship of one, who, 
from the organization of our Society, — his signature being the Jirst attached to 
its Constitution, — cherished a hearty interest in its objects, and exhibited a 
ready zeal to promote its prosperity, extend its influence, and uphold its honor. 

Resolved, That we sympathize with this community in the emotions awakened 
by the death of another of its " merchant princes," whose name has been so long 
associated with all that is manly and sagacious in commercial enterprise, lofty and 
venerable in unspotted integrity, large and generous in Christian charity. 

His warm heart made him a tender and steadfast friend. His strong intellect 
and clear judgment made him a wise and safe counsellor. Singularly independ- 
ent and honest in the formation of his opinions ; unswerving in lidelity to his 
convictions ; of an impulsive temperament, guided by principle, and made amen- 
able to conscience, — his character and career, honorable to himself and beneficial 
to others, leave his name to be held in remembrance as that of a wise, just, 
faithful, and benevolent man. 

Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions, with the expression of our 
sincere sympathy, be sent by the Secretary to the family of the deceased. 



60 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

III. 

At the annual meeting of the Boston Marine Society, held 
on the third day of November, 1863, the following Preamble 
and Resolution were offered by Captain John S. Sleeper: — 

Whereas Captain William Sturgis, who has been an active and 
honored member of the Boston Marine Society for more than sixty 
years, has been called away by the Almighty Power at a ripe old age, 
to rest from his earthly labors. 

Therefore Besolved, That the members of this Society will long 
treasure the memory, and endeavor to emulate the example, of one 
who justly deserved the character of a skilful sailor, an enterprising 
merchant, a useful citizen, and an honest man. 

The above was unanimously adopted, and ordered to be 
placed on the records of the Society ; and a copy of the same 
to be presented to the family of the deceased. 



IV- 

At the stated monthly meeting, held Thursday, Nov. 12, 
1864, the President announced the death of Lord Lyndhurst, an 
Honorary Member of this Society, and the death of the Hon. 
William Sturgis, a Resident Member, in the following 
terms : — 

We may not forget, gentlemen, that, since our last monthly meet- 
ing, two names of more than common significance have been stricken 
from our rolls, — one of them the name of an Honorary, and the 
other of a Resident Member. You would hardly pardon me for 
omitting some brief notice of them before passing to the regular 
business of the day. 

The President then proceeded as follows : — 

The Hon. William Sturgis died in this city on the evening of the 
21st of October, at the age of eighty-one years. Born on Cape Cod, 



APPENDIX. 61 

and taking naturally to the sea as the field of his early enterprise, he 
soon rose to the highest rank as a navigator. His voyages to the 
North-west Coast, and to China and the East Indies, at a time when 
our commerce with those regions Avas in its infancy, were frequently 
attended with adventures and perils of an almost romantic character. 
They served at once to display and to develop the extraordinary 
energy and bravery of his nature. Quitting the sea with a large 
fund of commercial experience, and establishing himself in a mercan- 
tile house in Boston, he became one of our most successful, enterpris- 
ing, and eminent merchants, as well as one of our most esteemed and 
valuable citizens. Wherever he was, on sea or on shore, he exhibited 
a sagacity and an intellectual vigor of the highest order. Few men 
of any profession have surpassed him in clearness of comprehension, 
in quickness of perception, or in practical common sense. And no 
man surpassed him in the courage to declare and defend his OAvn 
opinions, whatever they were. Frequently a member of both 
branches of our State Legislature, he was distinguished for his readi- 
ness and ability as a debater. It was a rare thing for any one to get 
the advantage of him in offhand, or even in more deliberate, dis- 
cussion. Nor was his pen less ready than his tongue. His frequent 
contributions to the public journals in former years, and his written 
reports in the Legislature and elsewhere, would compare well with 
those of most of our trained scholars. 

During the controversy between Great Britain and the United 
States on the subject of the Oregon boundary, his personal acquaint- 
ance with that territory, and his familiarity with the whole history of 
its discovery, were of the highest importance to our Government. 
The lecture which he delivered on this subject before the Mercantile- 
Library Association of our city, and which was printed at the time, 
was one of the most interesting and valuable public discussions of the 
question ; Avhile his private correspondence with distinguished states- 
men, both at home and abroad, was well understood to have had no 
small influence in bringing the controversy to an amicable and satis- 
factory issue. 

It was ouly a few months since that our departed associate and 
friend promised me that he would put this correspondence into a shape 
to be preserved in the archives of our Society ; and I trust that it 
may still find its appropriate place here. I need not say that he had 
given other evidences of his interest in our welfare. You have not 
forgotten the announcement at our last annual meeting, that he had 



62 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

made a donation to our treasury of the whole amount needed to 
complete the discharge of the mortgage on this building. Finding, as 
one of the Committee to examine our accounts, that about twelve 
hundred dollars would accomplish that result, he volunteered to send 
me his check for the sum, on the simple condition that his name 
should not be published in the newspapers. Mr. Sturgis has thus 
entitled himself to be gratefully remembered among our benefactors, 
as well as among our most respected and distinguished associates ; 
and I am sure you will all concur in the adoption of the customary 
resolution, which I am instructed by the Standing Committee to 
report as follows : — 

Resolved, That this Society has heard with deep regret of the death of their 
valued associate, the Hon. William Sturgis ; and that the President be directed to 
name one of our number to prepare a Memoir of him for our Transactions. 

This resolution was seconded by the Hon. Charles G. 
LoRiNG, who spoke as follows : — 

Mr. President, — I ask indulgence for a few minutes to express 
my concurrence in the proposed resolution. 

My acquaintance with ]Mi\ Sturgis, although of long-distant date 
as a general one, had ripened in the course of the past six or seven 
years into a very cordial, and, I think I may say, somewhat intimate 
friendship. Our intercourse, though at the first chiefly official, soon 
became frequent, and far exceeding the necessities or ordinary routine 
of business. I can therefore, I think, speak with somewhat of 
authority concerning his claims upon our remembrance, and bear 
testimony to the fitness of the record of it Avhich it is noAv proposed to 
make. 

In the course of a long and busy life, presenting many opportuni- 
ties for observation and study of the characters of prominent men in 
our community, I remember no one of more striking peculiarities and 
harmonized strength than that of our deceased friend in his later, 
and, as I am disposed to believe, his best days. For surely we may 
reasonably account tliose the best, when effort and aspiration have 
terminated in possession of the prizes of life, and opportunity and 
disposition are given for the right enjoyment and use of them ; — 
AvliL'u the vigorous faculties exerted in their attainment still find. 
" ample room and verge enough " for gently exciting play in the 
duties and incidents of family relationship and social life, in the 
guardianship of the interests of others, and in the needed authority of 



APPENDIX. 63 

ripened judgment in the general affairs of men ; — when the mellowing 
influence of a long experience in self-examination, and in varied ob- 
servation of the mingled and often undistinguishable strength and 
weakness, virtue and frailty, truth and error, which compose so much 
of the motley web of human life, has begotten that spirit of liberal 
interpretation of motive and conduct which such experience alone 
seems able to beget ; — when the standard of truthfulness, honor, and 
fidelity to duty, has become the ever-ready and controlling test of 
worth, and of claims for consideration and respect ; — and when a 
subdued consciousness of the affection and respect of descendants, 
relatives, associates, and friends, throws its mellow sunshine upon the 
descending path of earthly life. And such Avere the peculiar blessings 
of old age, in the midst of which our friend has left us. 

The prominent elements of the character of Mr. Sturgis are too 
generally and too well knoAvn to require minute description and 
analysis on this occasion ; and the history of its formation would 
demand more time and space than the occasion permits. Th<ey may 
well become the subject of a Memoir for the archives of this Society, 
of which he Avas a liberal benefactor and an honored member ; one 
who has made material contributions to the history of a portion of 
the country. It is enough for the present purpose, and in view of a 
more eularge(i memorial, that we now recognize the marvellous 
strength of that character, in the vigor of his intellect, his almost 
unequalled quickness and accuracy of perception, his far-reaching 
sagacity, his profound and comprehensive judgment, his keen insight 
into human nature, his vmtiring energy, indomitable resolution, and 
unflinching courage ; — that we recall to mind his varied and accurate 
knowledge, extending far beyond the confines of his especial pursuits 
and occupation ; his cultivated literary taste, his brilliant conversa- 
tional powers, his genial disposition and inspiring vivacity, his 
aptness in lively repartee, and happy social influences upon all around 
him; — and that to these we can add the remembrance of his high 
sense of honor, his unswerving loyalty to truth, and fidelity to every 
trust. 

These were traits of character obvious to all who came within the 
circle of his acquaintance. But to these elements of strength and 
power were united others, which, though less conspicuous, are yet not 
less worthy of recorded remembrance. To them he added a tender 
love and generous devotion to his children and ifelatives ; the most 
considerate and enduring affection for his friends, extending after 



64 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM STURGIS. 

their death to those dear to them, in continued deeds of substantial 
kindness ; and an enlightened and extensive liberality, founded on a 
mingled sense of duty and generous feeling, of which liberality many 
institutions and individuals have been the recipients, but which, 
during his life, remained mostly unknown, because of the uniform 
injunction of secrecy, upon the pledge of Avhich the gifts were made ; 
it being his constant effort in these ministrations, that his left hand 
should not know what his right hand was doing. 

With this hasty and very imperfect tribute to the memory of our 
friend, I beg leave to second the adoption of the resolution. 

The resolution, after a few remarks by Mr. Quincy, was 
unanimously adopted. 

The President nominated Mr. Loring to prepare the 
customary Memoir of Mr. Sturgis. 




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